Ryan's problem
by bobbiejod
Summary: During the whole Oliver mess. Sandy and Kirsten take a tough love approach in dealing with Ryan. Will he accept it all or push them away? Completed!
1. Ch 1: Laying Down The Law

**AN: **So I'm not entirely sure about the title. I may change it later. Anyway, this is how I think it should have gone on the show. And I didn't like how easily Ryan forgave everyone after Oliver. This takes place after the fight in the student lounge and goes on from there. Since I'm not that much of a fan of Marissa's, she won't be in the story that much. Anyway tell me what you all think of this and whether I should continue this. Please R&R!

**Disclaimer: **I own no one. They all belong to Josh Schwartz and Fox.

**Summary: **In the middle of the Oliver situation. Sandy and Kirsten, fed up with Ryan's actions, decide on a tough love approach. Will he do what they say, or push them away?

**Chapter 1: Laying Down The Law**

"No going out. No cell phone. No video games. No privacy. You join us for all meals. You will be doing chores. You want anything, you go through us…" the words replayed in Ryan's mind as he lay on the bed in the guest room.

After the whole parental units' united front, Ryan was forced to pack up his belongings from the pool house while Sandy watched him the whole time. He was deposited in the guest room near Seth's bedroom with Sandy telling him to be down for supper in a half hour. As per the no privacy clause, Ryan realized that the door was missing.

"Ryan, mom's here with take out." Seth passed by the guest room.

He slowly got off the bed and went down to the kitchen. He saw bags of take out containers on the counter as Sandy took some plates out of the cupboard and brought them over. Ryan walked past the counter and slumped into a chair at the table.

"Ryan, come and get it." Kirsten called to him.

"Not hungry." He grumbled.

"What was the deal, Ryan?" Sandy demanded.

"The deal was that I join you for meals. You said nothing about eating with you."

"He's got us there." Kirsten tried not to smile at Sandy as the three of them joined Ryan at the table.

"So how was school?" Sandy asked.

Ryan remained silent as Seth went on and on about the latest Summer/Anna drama. Sandy watched Ryan sit silently throughout the entire meal as he waited for them all to finish so he could start on that night's dishes. Ryan gathered all the dishes after everyone was done eating and proceeded to wash them in the sink as Sandy brought the rest of the dishes over for him.

"Ryan," Sandy started to say as he patted his shoulder, but Ryan shrugged him off roughly. "Hey. There is no need for that."

"What's going on?" Kirsten came in.

"I'm trying to do the dishes." Ryan stated. "So stop bugging me so I can get them done and get out of your sight like you want me to."

"Ryan, that's not true." Sandy started to approach him again.

"Don't. Touch. Me." Ryan said through clenched teeth as he glared at them.

"Sandy," Kirsten started as she looked at him as Seth came in and witnessed the whole scene. "Living room. Both of you. Now."

Ryan went back to the dishes as the three of them went to the living room and they sat down.

"We can't push him right now." She told them. "He's still pissed off from this afternoon. He'll calm down sooner or later."

"Are you sure about that?" Sandy looked at her.

"Not totally." She sighed as she saw Ryan come out of the kitchen and head for the stairs.

"Dishes are done. Kitchen is clean." He told them. "Unless there's something else, warden."

"We need to talk still, Ryan." Kirsten told him. "Wait for us in the kitchen, please."

"Whatever." He stormed back into the kitchen as Sandy and Kirsten followed him and Seth went upstairs.

They found Ryan leaning against the counter when they walked back into the kitchen. He had a glare on his face as he spotted them.

"Ryan, sit down." Kirsten pointed to one of the chairs at the counter, but Ryan stayed where he was. "Please."

He sighed and reluctantly sat down on the stool the farthest away from them. He didn't look at them; instead he just waited for them to talk.

"Ryan, we're worried about you." Kirsten started.

"Why?" he mumbled.

"What?"

"Why are you worried about me? It's not like I'm your kid. I'm just the charity case you took in because you felt sorry for me. It's not like you actually want me here. I can save you all this trouble and just leave now." Ryan started off the stool towards the stairs.

"Get back here!" Sandy bellowed. "Sit down!"

"Why? It'd just be delaying the inevitable." He glared at them.

"Ryan, please sit down." Kirsten said in a softer voice than the one that Sandy had decided to use.

"Why should I even bother?"

"We don't want you to leave."

"Why? All I've done since I got here was cause you trouble."

"That's not true at all."

"Yes, it is. Even when I don't do anything wrong, you still blame me anyway."

"And that's my fault." Kirsten told him. "I didn't give you a chance when you first got here. But we want you here."

"It's not like I'm not used to people judging me before they know me."

"Sit down, please." Ryan eyed Kirsten wearily until he finally sat back down on the stool. "Now as we were saying, we're really worried about you."

"I'm fine. I'm an outcast again. I'm used to it."

"You shouldn't be."

"Whatever," he shrugged.

"Ryan, we would like you to talk to someone." Sandy broached the subject cautiously with him.

"You mean a shrink?" Ryan demanded. "You guys think I'm crazy?"

"No. We don't think you're crazy." Kirsten assured him. "You've gone through so much since you started to live with us. Just give it a chance."

"Fine. Are we done?" Ryan started up again.

"Not yet." Sandy stopped him. "You are suspended for the week. That doesn't mean that you're going to get to sit around the house all week. You will go with one of us to work as long as you're suspended."

"Fine." He stormed out and up the stairs.

"Do you think we did the right thing?" Kirsten looked at Sandy.

"Yes." He told her firmly. "He has to know that he won't get away with anything."

"I guess." She sighed as they both heard yelling coming from upstairs. "I wish this night was over already."

"Let's go." Sandy told her and they made their way upstairs to deal with their teenagers.

* * *

><p>Ryan stormed up the stairs and into the guest room where he was doomed to spend his days now. He walked in and grumbled as he saw Seth sitting on the edge of the bed.<p>

"What are you doing in here?" he demanded.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"We have nothing to say to each other."

"I heard what you said downstairs."

"I should've known that you would eavesdrop."

"I want to talk to you."

"Do you believe me about Oliver?"

"Ryan-"

"Then we have nothing to say to each other."

"What's going on in here?" Sandy and Kirsten appeared.

"Does no privacy mean that you guys can come in here without permission?"

"We heard all the yelling and came to check it out." Kirsten told him.

"I'm talking about him." Ryan glared at Seth. "He was in here when I came up. I didn't give him permission to come in. But then, I guess I don't have the right to deny anyone access in here."

"I just wanted to talk to you." Seth told him. "We need to settle this."

"I have nothing to say to any of you."

"You can be angry at us all you want." Sandy told him. "But I think you should try to talk it out with Seth."

"He doesn't have my back." Ryan told them. "So I have nothing to say to him. Now I want all of you to leave me alone."

"Let's go." Kirsten told them and Seth reluctantly followed them out of the room.

* * *

><p>Ryan waited until in the middle of the night when he thought all the Cohen's were fast asleep before he made his way down to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and started to make himself a bologna sandwich. He sat at the counter as he ate his sandwich and had a glass of water. He was startled when the light suddenly flashed on and he saw Kirsten standing in the doorway.<p>

"I thought I heard someone down here."

"I didn't mean to wake you up."

"So you were hungry earlier. You just didn't want to eat with us."

"I didn't want to eat at a table with Seth and Sandy." He corrected her. "I have no problem with you at this point. Not as much as them anyway."

"Why did you get so upset when we were talking with you after supper?"

"You didn't even listen. I was trying to tell you something, but you didn't hear me. I don't know why I'm that surprised. It's not like anyone would believe the poor kid from Chino over the privileged kid who lives in a penthouse."

"You really believe that?"

"I've tried talking to you guys countless times when Oliver first came. You were both too busy to listen. I tried talking to Seth, but he's too self-involved with his whole Summer/Anna threesome."

"I'm sorry about that."

"I'm used to it." He got up and took his plate and glass to the sink. "No one ever believed me in Chino either. It's not much different here. Different town, same problems. Although, sometimes things were a lot easier in Chino."

"Ryan-"

"I'm going to bed." He cut her off and started back upstairs.

Kirsten stayed in the kitchen a while longer after Ryan went upstairs. She had to remember to tell both Sandy and Seth what he had said to her. She had to make sure that they kept an eye on him because he sounded like a person that was ready to run. She eventually made her way back upstairs and climbed into bed beside Sandy, who reached for her in his sleep. She snuggled closer to him, reminding herself to talk to him in the morning about Ryan.

**AN: **Obviously since this is fanfiction, I can tweak the events of the show to fit this story how I want them to. So please no comments about how that didn't happen on the show. Anyway, now that I have my cable back, I'm going to try to catch up on the episodes of Hart Of Dixie and Southland that I've missed. I was going through major Ben withdrawl. Anyway, please R&R!


	2. Ch 2: Drastic Measures

**Summary: **In the middle of the Oliver situation. Sandy and Kirsten, fed up with Ryan's actions, decide on a tough love approach. Will he do what they say, or push them away?

**AN: **I have another chapter for everyone. I'm surprised there was such positive feedback for this considering I wasn't even sure if I should post this or not. One thing I do have to comment on is that a few of you said that Ryan is too angry for the situation. First of all, as I explained with the last chapter, this is fanfiction. That means that I can write it however I want. Second, there is more going on with Ryan than the Oliver thing that he's bottling up inside him and hasn't told Sandy or Kirsten. It will all be revealed in a few chapters. Until then, enjoy! Please R&R!

**Disclaimer: **I own no one!

**Chapter 2: Drastic Measures**

Ryan was awoken one morning when Sandy shook him roughly. He informed him that he would be going with him that day and that he should get dressed because they would be leaving soon. He grumbled under his breath as he pulled a pair of jeans and a wrinkled shirt out of the pile of clothes that was on his floor and quickly changed into them. He grabbed his school bag and went downstairs. He saw them all in the kitchen gathered around the counter so he just sat on the bottom step of the stairs leading up to the front door as he waited for Sandy to come out.

"Not hungry again?" Kirsten came out to him wearing a pant suit and carrying some blueprints.

"I don't feel like family togetherness." He mumbled. "Is he coming?"

"I think he's waiting for you to go in there."

"He'll be waiting forever then."

"I'll go grab you something to take with you." She went back into the kitchen and returned with a small bottle of orange juice and a bagel. "Be sure to eat this."

"Can't I just go with you today?"

"You wouldn't want to be there today. My father's going to be in the office all day. Besides, Sandy's going to the Lighthouse today so you won't have to sit in his office all day."

"Fine." He sighed as she walked out the door and a few minutes later Sandy and Seth came out of the kitchen to him.

"Let's get going." He told him and Ryan silently walked outside and slid into the backseat of Sandy's car as Seth climbed into the front.

They were silent the entire way to drop Seth off at Harbor. Once he got out of the car, Sandy waited for Ryan to move into the front seat but after almost ten minutes he pulled away and drove to the restaurant. When they walked inside, Ryan went to a table that wasn't covered in plastic and got out his school books as Sandy went to find Jimmy in the back.

"You brought Ryan with you?" Jimmy saw him in the dining area. "Marissa told me what happened at school. How is he doing?"

"I don't know what to do about him." Sandy sighed. "Last night, he was ready to leave because he thinks he's our charity case. Kirsten was able to talk him out of it. She's the only one who he'll talk to right now. He's shutting Seth out too."

"Would it be all right if I tried? I mean, I haven't talked to him that much before-"

"You can try." Sandy watched him approach the table where Ryan was.

* * *

><p>Ryan was reading in his history book about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire when he heard someone come up behind him. He looked up as he saw Jimmy Cooper standing by the table.<p>

"Hey, Ryan."

"Mr. Cooper," he went back to his history book.

"Do you mind if I sit here with you?"

"Whatever." He mumbled. "It's your restaurant."

"I just want to talk to you."

"It's ok. I understand."

"Understand what?"

"You want me to stay away from Marissa. She doesn't want me anywhere near her anyway, so you're just wasting your breath."

"Actually I just wanted to know if you wanted to talk."

"Nope." He mumbled. "You can knock off the nice act. It's not like we ever talked much before. Besides we shouldn't start bonding now. It's not like I'll be here for much longer."

"What makes you say that?"

"Sandy doesn't want me around anymore. It's not like I fit in with this snooty stuck up town where everyone thinks that they're better than everyone else."

"You haven't really given it a chance. Some of the people here are all right."

"It doesn't matter. I'm as good as gone." He went back to his history book as Jimmy got up and went back to where Sandy was.

"How'd it go?" Sandy asked him.

"I'd look into getting him some help as soon as possible. He sounds like he's going to run."

* * *

><p>Ryan and Sandy returned to the house a little after lunchtime. Ryan threw his things down by the stairs and went off to start the laundry and do the dishes from that morning.<p>

"Are you hungry?" Sandy asked him. "I can make us a couple sandwiches."

"That depends. Can I eat in the guest room?"

"Absolutely not."

"Then I'm not hungry. I am definitely not staying in a room with you a minute longer than I have to."

"Ryan, come on. Talk to me."

"Oh. So now you all of a sudden want to talk?" Ryan turned around to face him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I've tried coming to you countless times when I started having bad feelings about Oliver. You were too busy with your new job at that fancy law firm to listen."

"Well, I'm here now."

"Right. You only feel like talking when you have no choice." Ryan turned back around and finished up the dishes before going up to his room.

Kirsten arrived home around five with their supper and saw Sandy sitting at the counter as she heard video games coming from the den. Sandy looked up at her as she set all the carry-out bags down and she noticed his defeated look.

"What's the matter?" she went to him.

"Have I really been that busy with my job that I didn't notice that Ryan needed some much-needed advice?"

"If you have, then I have too." She sat down next to him. "I take it that you talked to Ryan."

"If you can call it that." He sighed. "Jimmy tried talking to him at the Lighthouse. He said he sounds like someone who is planning to run."

"I think he does, too. I scheduled an appointment for Ryan with a psychiatrist for tonight. I told him that it was an emergency and that we needed to take drastic measures."

"So which one of us is taking him?"

"I was thinking we both should. Seth has plans with Anna."

"Ok." They started to get some plates out as they heard some loud noises upstairs.

They exchanged glances and started upstairs, where they found Ryan nailing a black sheet in the doorway of the guest room.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sandy demanded.

"Rosa said you guys haven't used these in a long time."

"But what are you doing with it?" Kirsten asked him.

"You know why I took the door off, Ryan." Sandy stated firmly.

"I have no privacy anymore. I get it. You said I can't have a door. You never said I couldn't use something else as a door." Ryan explained to them.

"Technicality." Kirsten smiled at Sandy. "He got us again."

"I'm not amused." Sandy looked at her.

"I am." She turned back to Ryan. "Come on downstairs and eat, Ryan."

"Not hungry." He mumbled.

"Did you eat the breakfast I gave you this morning?"

"Part of it. I kind of lost my appetite after I was forced to be in a car with them."

"Sandy told me you didn't eat any lunch."

"Nope."

"Come down and eat supper with us."

"I don't want to eat with them." He glared at Sandy.

"How about a compromise?" Kirsten ventured.

"I'm listening." He eyed her wearily.

"You can eat at the counter while the rest of us will eat at the table." She told him. "You eat at least half of what's put on your plate and we'll let it go."

"I won't have to contribute to any table conversation?"

"None."

"Ok. Fine. I'm coming." He put the hammer and nails back where he found them and followed behind Sandy and Kirsten down the stairs.

Seth and Anna came into the kitchen as everything was set out onto the table. Seth noticed Ryan at the counter with his back facing them as he slowly ate what was in front of him.

"Why-"

"Ryan agreed to a compromise." Sandy told him. "Thanks to your mother."

"Hey, Ryan." Anna smiled at him as she went to get herself something to drink.

"Anna," he nodded at her. "How's it going?"

"Much better than it is for you, I hear." She made sure the three Cohen's weren't listening to their conversation.

"I've been through worse." He told her.

"Ryan, you need to eat." Kirsten called from the table.

"Anna was talking to me. It's not polite to talk with my mouth full of food."

"So you'll talk to Anna, but not me?" Seth turned around.

"Anna hasn't pissed me off like you have." Ryan turned around as well and glared at him.

"Both of you, knock it off." Kirsten told them. "Now turn around and eat."

"You really like to rile him up, don't you?" Anna looked at Ryan.

"Maybe a little." He smiled at her as she went to join the others at the table.

After they were all done eating, Sandy and Kirsten cleared off the table as Seth and Anna left. Ryan managed to eat a little more than half of what was on his plate before he gave up and started on the dishes.

"Ryan, you can wait on doing those." Kirsten told him. "You actually have an appointment in forty-five minutes."

"I do?"

"I set up a meeting with a therapist for you."

"Why?" he demanded.

"We talked about this last night." Sandy reminded him.

"You didn't give me any kind of warning? You just expect me to go?"

"You don't really have any choices right now."

"Of course. My free will got taken away as well."

Ryan reluctantly went with them out to the car and they went to the therapist's office. Ryan sat far away from them in the empty waiting room as they waited for him to be called in.

"You can force me to come here, but you can't force me talk. So you're just wasting your money."

"Ryan, this will be good for you." Kirsten told him.

"How do you know what's good for me? You don't know anything about me."

"Ryan, come on back." The door opened and a receptionist led him to one of the back rooms.

"Ryan, I'm Dr. Steele," a man with graying hair greeted him. "It's nice to meet you."

"I wish I could say the same." He mumbled as he sat on the uncomfortable chair across from him.

"So why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?"

"You have my file in front of you, so you already know about me."

"I have the facts, not the details."

"Well, you won't be getting any from me." Ryan crossed his arms on his chest and just glared at the doctor in front of him.

"Sandy and Kirsten are really concerned about you, now why don't we try to resolve this?"

Ryan remained how he was for the entire hour not once blinking or offering up any kind of verbal response to the doctor's questions. Dr. Steele finally dismissed him and Ryan stormed out of the office followed by Sandy and Kirsten. They looked perplexed as they exchanged an anxious look with the doctor as they hurried to catch up with Ryan as he reached the car. He slid into the back seat as he struggled not to slam the door.

"How'd it go?" Sandy ventured as he started the car.

"It sucked."

"What'd you think of Dr. Steele?" Kirsten asked.

"He's an ass."

"Ryan! Language!"

"Just being honest." He mumbled as they pulled up to house and Ryan fled inside and up to the guest room.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? Please R&R!


	3. Ch 3: Last Ditch Effort

**Summary: **In the middle of the Oliver situation. Sandy and Kirsten, fed up with Ryan's actions, decide on a tough love approach. Will he do what they say, or push them away?

**AN: **So it's been a couple of rough weeks for me. Last Wednesday morning before school, my good friends' 13 year old nephew was killed in an accidental shooting at a friends house. Such a tragic event hardly ever happens in the small town where I live. He was such a sweet, kind-hearted and outgoing boy and he didn't deserve this. So that's why I haven't posted in a while. But here is a new chapter for you guys. I would love some reviews because it's my birthday tomorrow. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See first chapter.

**Chapter 3: Last-Ditch Effort**

Sandy and Kirsten were busy talking about Ryan's behavior one night so Ryan was able to sneak outside. He walked to the end of the driveway and sat down on the curb as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He took a long drag and slowly exhaled.

"I thought you quit." He looked up and saw Kirsten standing above him.

"You guys think a lot of things that aren't true."

"Where'd you get those? Rosa confiscated the ones you had when you moved in."

"You can find people willing to sell to minors if you know where to look."

"Ryan, we need to settle some things. Figure out how to deal with everything. Together. As a family." She slowly sat down beside him.

"Why?" he looked at her.

"Because we're a family."

"You, Sandy, and Seth are a family." He informed her. "I'm just the street kid who lives in your pool house. Or who is being forced to live in your guest room right now."

"Ryan, you are a part of our family."

"No, I'm not. Not really. But that's ok. I'll just always feel like a guest in your home; feel privileged that you've taken me in and are allowing me to have all the opportunities that your son has."

"That is not how we feel."

"Whatever," Ryan stood up and stamped out the cigarette. "I should probably get inside before the warden does bed check."

"Ryan-"

"It's fine." He went back inside as Sandy came out of the kitchen.

"Where were you?" he demanded.

"I didn't leave the property."

"Ryan, this has got to stop!"

"Sandy, not now." Kirsten came in. "Get some sleep, Ryan. You can come with me to the Newport Group tomorrow."

"Fine." He started upstairs as Sandy turned to Kirsten.

"Kirsten-"

"Sandy, we have much bigger problems. He's questioning his place in this family. I think he thinks of himself as a guest here."

"After all this time?"

"We need to think of something else to do."

"I'm open to suggestions, because I'm at a loss."

"I'll think of something."

* * *

><p>The next morning, Ryan was at the counter in the kitchen slowly eating his cereal as he waited for Kirsten to come down. Sandy came in followed closely by Seth as he was trying to convince Sandy to let him go out that night.<p>

"It's a school night, Seth."

"But it's the IMAX!"

"I'm sure it'll be there this weekend."

"Do you want to come with me, Ryan?" Seth glanced at Ryan.

"Not a chance in hell." He mumbled as Kirsten came in. "Can we go yet?"

"First, watch your language." She told him. "Second, I think it would be good for you if you go out with Seth."

"You guys grounded me. No going out, remember?"

"It's still considered punishment if we force you to go out with a person you don't want to be around."

"So I again have no choice?"

"Nope."

"Fine." He got up from the counter. "But I'm not sitting anywhere near you."

"I'll take it." Seth said as Ryan stormed out of the house.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" Sandy looked at Kirsten.

"He's questioning his place in this family. Maybe if he spends some one-on-one time with each of us, it'll help him."

"I hope you're right." Sandy looked at Seth. "But it has to be just you and Ryan tonight. And you are not to let him out of your sight."

"Got it." Seth gathered his things and followed his parents out.

* * *

><p>Ryan sat at a table in the corner of Kirsten's office doing his homework as she talked to an investor over the phone. He glanced at her as she kept getting louder and louder. He finally gave up on getting any kind of work done and turned around and watched her.<p>

"Sorry about that." Kirsten hung up and looked at Ryan. "We're having a problem with one of the suppliers."

"Whatever." He mumbled. "It's none of my business."

"We'd really appreciate it if you lost the attitude."

"I'll lose the attitude when you guys stop disappointing me." He turned back around and resumed his homework.

"So we're disappointing you."

"It doesn't matter. I'm just the street kid that lives with you."

"Ryan, we'd like to improve on the way that we deal with each other."

"Good luck with that." He opened one of his text books as the door opened.

"Kiki-" Caleb stopped when he spotted Ryan at the table in the corner. "What's he doing here?"

"Dad, don't."

"Oh, that's right.

"Dad-" Kirsten tried again.

"You know, if you were my kid-" Caleb continued, not paying any attention to what Kirsten was saying.

"Well thank goodness that I'm not." Ryan turned around to look at him. "You know, I'm not really in the mood for anything you have to say to me, old man."

"What did you say to me?" Caleb walked closer.

"Are you going deaf in your old age?" Ryan glared at him.

"How dare you-"

"How dare I what? Tell you how it really is instead of caving to your every demand like everyone else that meets you does?"

"And you're just letting him talk to me like this?" Caleb looked at Kirsten, finally acknowledging her.

"I warned you not to goad him." She told him. "If you need me for something important, I'll meet you in your office. Otherwise, stay away from here as long as Ryan is here."

Ryan turned back to his work as Caleb walked out of the office. Kirsten sighed as she walked out after her dad and followed him into his office.

"Was it really necessary to get him all worked up like that?" she demanded.

"That boy needs to learn some respect." Caleb told her firmly.

"He's going through some things right now." She told him. "He's rejecting everything Sandy, Seth, and I want to do for him."

"I can knock some sense into him-"

"No you won't." Kirsten told him. "We're dealing with him in our own way."

"You should just send him back where he came from."

"First of all, we would never do that after promising him that we would never take him back. Second, we don't know where his mom is. Even if we did, we would never leave him with her. We are the only family he has left."

"But you're not." They heard behind them and saw Ryan standing in the door.

"What?" Kirsten looked at him.

"I'm not your family. Not really."

"Ryan-"

"From what I've been told, isn't a family supposed to listen to you? Try to understand what you're going through? Not just push them on someone else to fix their problems."

"Ryan, we're all trying."

"No, you're not." He stated. "You're forcing me to spend time with people that I don't like."

"I know that's not true."

"How do you know? You don't know anything about me. You're just trying to conform me to what you think I should be. I didn't ask for any of this."

"Ryan, we're just doing what we think is best for you."

"How do you know what's best for me? You've never taken the time to get to know the real me. Neither one of you have. You just expect me to do what you planned for me. Never mind if it's something I don't want to do."

"Why didn't you tell us before?"

"When would I have had the chance?" he glared at them before turning around and heading back to Kirsten's office.

"Oh my god." Kirsten mumbled.

"I say that kid needs some help." Caleb told her.

"We took him to see a therapist a few days ago, but apparently he barely said a word to him."

"If you want, I can try talking to him."

"I don't think that's such a good idea." She told him. "We need to think of something else to try to help him."

* * *

><p>Kirsten and Ryan returned to the house as Seth was getting home from school. Ryan went upstairs as Kirsten ordered take-out for that night.<p>

"How was your day?" Seth asked her.

"Why?"

"You spent the day with Ryan." He told her. "I can tell that your day wasn't all that great."

"I gained some insights into some of Ryan's problems." She sighed. "I called your father and he may have come up with something. Unfortunately, I don't think you'll be going to the IMAX tonight."

"Why not?"

"Because from now on, we'll be facing all of Ryan's problems as a family. Which means that you'll be stuck going with us tonight."

"Going where?"

"We'll fill you in later." She told him as the door opened and Sandy came in.

"Hey." He greeted them. "Where's Ryan?"

"Upstairs." Kirsten told him. "He barely said a word to me since his outburst in dad's office."

"I'll try to talk to him." Sandy headed upstairs, and Seth looked at his mother.

"Ryan yelled at grandpa?" he asked her.

"It was directed more at me." She told him. "So we're all going to have an early dinner, then we'll go on a little field trip."

"Field trip?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Kirsten went to answer the door as the doorbell rang and brought in the take-out.

Dinner was a quiet event as Ryan silently brooded when he was forced to sit at the table with all of them. He slowly picked at the food as Sandy tried to get him to eat.

"If that's all you're going to eat, take your dishes to the sink and meet us out in the car." Kirsten told both Seth and Ryan.

"I don't want to go." Ryan stated.

"You don't have a choice in the matter." Sandy told him. "Go out to the range rover and wait for us."

They both got up from the table, put their dishes in the sink, and walked outside. Sandy helped Kirsten clean up and they followed behind the boys. Ryan was scrunched up against his window as far as he could to be away from Seth. The ride was silent the whole way there with Ryan grumbling under his breath every so often. Sandy finally pulled up to a building and shut off the engine.

**AN: **So what'd you think of that little cliff hanger? Where did they take Ryan? You'll find out in the next chapter! PLZ R&R!


	4. Ch 4: Give It A Try

**Summary: **In the middle of the Oliver situation. Sandy and Kirsten, fed up with Ryan's actions, decide on a tough love approach. Will he do what they say, or push them away?

**Disclaimer: **See first chapter.

**AN: **Here's another chapter for you guys. I would've had it out sooner, but I decided to tweak it a little. And I have a new idea about where this story will go. It will take an interesting turn within the next few chapters. Anyway, on to the story! Please R&R!

**Chapter 4: Give It A Try**

Sandy finally pulled up to a building and shut off the engine.

"What is this place?" Seth asked.

"More punishment for me." Ryan mumbled as Kirsten opened his door.

"It's not punishment." She assured him. "Hopefully, this will help you."

"Like I'm the only one who needs help here." He reluctantly climbed out of the car and they led him into the building.

"Hi. We're the Cohen's." Sandy approached a woman that was stationed behind a glass window. She had a name tag pinned to her shirt as she picked up a clipboard nearby.

"Newbies." She smiled at them as she scanned the list. "You have a family therapy session in the main conference room first."

"Thank you." Sandy led them down the hall and into a room.

"Seriously, what is this place?" Seth asked as they all sat down, Ryan far away from them.

"It's a support group meeting for foster kids and their new families." Kirsten told him. "It will be good for all of us."

"According to you." Ryan mumbled.

"So where are all the other foster families?" Seth asked.

"In other rooms doing other activities."

"Hello. My name is Nicole. I'll be your family counselor." A woman around Kirsten's age came in. "You're the Cohen's?"

"I'm Sandy, this is my wife Kirsten, and our sons Seth and Ryan."

"Hello, Ryan." Nicole saw him recoil when Sandy addressed him as his son.

He mumbled something incoherent under his breath as Kirsten and Sandy looked exasperated. Nicole noticed this, but decided not to push anyone yet.

"First I would like to say that whatever is said here is private and confidential. I do not discuss anything with any of my colleagues." Nicole told them.

"Thank you."

"Second it should be agreed upon that no matter what any of you say in here, there should be no punishment or repercussions of any kind at home."

"Agreed." Kirsten spoke up.

"Now why don't we start small tonight," Nicole turned to look at Ryan. "What are your feelings towards the Cohen's?"

"I don't know." He mumbled.

"Yes, you do." Nicole urged him. "Anything you say here, stays here."

"Until we get back to the house."

"There will be no repercussions." Kirsten told him. "We're all here to help you."

"You mean to gang up on me."

"We want to make things better." Sandy looked over at him.

"Let's start this again." Nicole interrupted them. "How do you feel about the Cohen's? No punishment, no judgment."

"I-I don't like them right now." Ryan finally said.

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"They disappointed me. They made false promises."

"What do you mean by false promises?"

"They said things would be different than they were for me before. And at the first sign of trouble, they start to bring back everything."

"Ryan, we have never raised a hand to you." Sandy told him.

"So you think the only kind of abuse I suffered was physical?"

"Explain what you mean, Ryan." Nicole urged, "Take your time."

"I could never talk to my mom or my brother or my mom's revolving door of boyfriends that she had. You claimed I could talk to you whenever I needed to. But that's not true. You're too busy with your fancy jobs."

"Ok. That's how you feel about Sandy and Kirsten. What about Seth?"

"I used to be able to talk to him. He used to have time. Before he was involved in this bizarre-o Anna/Summer love triangle."

"Dude-"

"At this point, I don't even care that you don't believe me." Ryan told Seth as he glared over at him. "You should've had my back from the beginning; just like I've had your back from the moment we met."

"Ok. I think that's enough family session for tonight." Nicole told them. "I'd like to talk to Ryan in private for a little bit. The other families are down the hall in room C. Ryan will meet you there in about fifteen minutes."

The three of them stood up and walked out, leaving Ryan alone with Nicole. He avoided her stare as they waited for the Cohen's to walk down the hall.

"I imagine that was intense; for all of you." She stated and Ryan shrugged. "We won't get into too much since this is your first session here. But I would like to know one thing: Who are you?"

"Um, Ryan Atwood." He looked at her blankly.

"And who is Ryan Atwood?"

"Me?"

"What I mean is there has to be more to you than your name. So who are you?"

"I don't know."

"And why not?"

"Because I'm just a teenager. Like I'm the only teenager who doesn't know who they are."

"Wouldn't you like to know once and for all who you are or who you can eventually become?"

"Maybe." He shrugged.

"I know you're not very good at expressing yourself out loud, but maybe I can help you with that."

Ryan watched as Nicole got up and went to a metal cabinet in the corner. She rummaged around and came back with a spiral-bound notebook.

"This is something we give all the foster kids that come here. It can be a journal; or not. You can just write down your feelings in list form. There are suggested subjects on a print-out inside. I would like you to do the first two suggestions before you come back, and we'll discuss it. It's not an assignment. You won't get graded on it or even have to tell the Cohen's." she explained to him.

"But I'll have to tell you what I wrote." He looked up at her as she held out the notebook in front of him.

"We'll discuss some of the things that you write. If you're not comfortable sharing something, then that's fine. As long as you do it."

"Fine." He took the notebook from her.

"Now if you ever feel like you need someone to talk to and no one else is there, I want you to call me." She gave him her card with her number on it. "That's my cell and my pager. You can call me anytime."

"So you're like my sponsor?" he retorted.

"I guess you can put it that way." She smiled as she stood up. "Now let's go find the Cohen's and see what they're doing."

"Fine." Ryan reluctantly followed her out of the room and down the hall.

* * *

><p>Sandy, Kirsten, and Seth walked out of the group therapy session and found room C. They looked around the room at all the other families standing around talking with each other as they had the coffee, punch, and various snacks that were set up on a long table.<p>

"We're going to try to start up a conversation with one of the parents." Sandy told Seth. "Why don't you do the same with one of these kids?"

"They're all little kids." Seth told them.

"There's a kid that looks around your age." Kirsten pointed to a kid sitting on the floor near the back wall. "And he's by himself."

"He looks like he plays water polo." He mumbled as he noticed the letterman jacket he was sporting.

"Just go." Seth grumbled to himself as he slowly made his way to the other side of the room and sat down near the kid.

"Hey." The kid looked up at him. "Thank goodness, someone my age. Do you have a foster brother or sister?"

"Brother." Seth mumbled.

"Me, too. How old is yours?" the kid scooted closer to Seth.

"Sixteen. Same as me."

"Mine is twelve. Is this your first time here?"

"Yeah. My mom and dad are kind of at their wits end with Ryan. I think this is our last resort with him."

"It's a good thing for you all. My parents were about ready to send Lucas back to the group home, but I begged them not to. I've been wanting a little brother for so long."

"What's your name anyway?"

"Oh, sorry. It's Wyatt."

"I'm Seth."

Sandy and Kirsten smiled as they watched Seth start to converse with the other teenager as they went to get some of the stale coffee.

"Are you guys new?" a couple came up to them.

"Sandy Cohen," he introduced himself. "This is my wife, Kirsten."

"I'm Ellen Thompson. This is my husband, Ted."

"Nice to meet you."

"That's our oldest over there; Wyatt." They gestured to the boy that was talking to Seth.

"That's our son he's talking to; Seth."

"Wyatt's probably happy that he has someone his own age to talk to." Ted told them. "So how old is your foster kid?"

"Ryan's sixteen; same age as Seth."

"Lucas is twelve. We got him when he was ten."

"Ryan's only been with us a little more than six months."

"Here they all come." Ellen pointed to the door of the room as some of the counselors came out with their charges.

Ryan came in, spotted them, and headed straight for the bleachers so he wouldn't have to talk to any of them. Kirsten sighed as she started to walk over to him.

"Give him some space, Mrs. Cohen." Nicole intercepted her. "The first visit is always the hardest."

"You're right." Kirsten sighed as she went back to Sandy.

Ryan sat on the bleachers glumly as he waited for this torture-fest to be over. He looked up as he saw Seth approaching him with someone else.

"Ryan, this is Wyatt." Seth told him.

"Great." Ryan mumbled.

"Would you like to hang out with us and his little brother Lucas?"

"No, thanks. Just come get me when we can leave."

"Come on," Wyatt pulled Seth away. "It's only the first meeting for you guys. It took us at least five of these meetings before Lucas started to open up."

More than an hour later, they all headed back home. When the car was turned off, they all went into the house. Ryan immediately went up to the guest room, wanting to be left alone for the rest of the night.

"Well, I think it helped him a little." Sandy said. "What do you think?"

"I think it'll be good for all of us if we keep going." Kirsten told him.

"Me, too." They headed up to their room for the night.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? By the way, if anyone has SoapNet, do you know why they stopped playing reruns of the OC? Anyway, please R&R!


	5. Ch 5: Bargaining

**Summary: **In the middle of the Oliver situation. Sandy and Kirsten, fed up with Ryan's actions, decide on a tough love approach. Will he do what they say, or push them away?

**AN: **I know it's been awhile since I posted a new chapter for this, but I've been really busy. I had a job interview a few weeks ago hoping to get a second job, but I haven't heard back from them yet so I don't think it's going to work how I wanted it to. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Please R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See first chapter.

**Chapter 5: Bargaining**

Kirsten came out of her bedroom closet in a black dress and spotted Sandy standing in front of their mirror. She smiled at him as he turned around after finishing with his tie.

"You look great." He smiled at her.

"You don't look so bad yourself." She kissed him deeply. "Are the boys getting ready?"

"I believe that Seth is. I'm not entirely sure about Ryan."

"Did you talk to him?" she looked at him.

"I tried." He readjusted his tie. "I'm not sure if he listened to me. He just lay motionless on the bed."

"You didn't yell at him, did you?"

"I wanted to, but no I didn't yell at him." He sighed deeply. "I'm really trying with him."

"We all are." She assured him. "It's just going to take time."

"I know."

"I'll go check on the boys." Kirsten walked out of their bedroom and started up the stairs.

They'd had another support group meeting the night before. Ryan opened up a little more, but not by much. Nicole was a little upset when she found out that Ryan didn't even attempt to write in the notebook she had given him at their first meeting. Kirsten privately assured her that by the next meeting, Ryan would have it done.

"Hey, mom." Seth slowly came out of his room in a tux.

"Good. You're all ready." She smiled at him. "Your father's waiting downstairs. I'm going to see if Ryan's ready yet."

"Good luck." Seth mumbled as he started downstairs.

Kirsten pushed the sheet aside as she started into Ryan's room, hoping that he wasn't in the middle of changing. She walked in and saw him sprawled out on the bed still in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. The notebook was at the foot of the bed; not touched. The garment bag with the tuxedo in it was draped over the chair by the far wall.

"Hey. You're not dressed."

"I'm not going." He grumbled.

"Ryan-"

"I don't want to go."

"Why?"

"I just don't."

"If it helps at all, I don't think Marissa is going to be there tonight."

"This isn't about Marissa." He snapped. "Sorry."

"If it's not about her, then what is it?"

"Why do you make me go to these stupid things? I never went to things like this before I came here, and I don't like going to them now. They're boring, there's nothing to do there, and you make us stay for hours."

"Ok. I suppose that's true." She carefully sat down beside him as he slowly sat up. "But being a part of a family means that you do things that you don't necessarily like to make them happy. And no matter how you feel about us right now, you are a part of this family. And you going to this event with us would make me happy."

Kirsten could tell that Ryan had listened to her words, but he chose not to respond. She glanced around the room and her eyes landed on the notebook again.

"Have you tried to write anything in this like Nicole wanted you to?" she picked it up off the end of the bed.

"No."

"Are you going to try?"

"I don't know."

"So you're probably going stir-crazy being stuck in here alone."

"I guess. It's not like I really have a choice." He mumbled.

"What if I gave you a one-day reprieve?"

"What do you mean?"

"You come to this party with us tonight, and I'll let you sit outside tomorrow. Maybe even take a soak in the pool."

"Sit outside?"

"It's better than sitting in here all day, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I guess it is."

"But you only get to do that if you come tonight. And if you try to write in this while you get your reprieve tomorrow." She waved the notebook in front of him.

"But-"

"That's the deal. Take it or leave it."

"Fine. I'll take it." He sighed.

"Good." She smiled at him. "I'll go so you can get dressed. I expect you downstairs in ten minutes, got it?"

"Got it."

Ryan made it downstairs before his ten minutes was up and met the others by the door. He slowly followed them all out to the car and had to listen to Seth ramble on about his latest drama with Anna. Ryan followed them in and sat at their assigned table with them as dinner was served.

"What is this stuff?" Seth poked at the items on his plate.

"Here we go," Sandy sighed.

"Just eat it, Seth." Kirsten told him as she noticed Ryan not even attempting to eat what was on the plate before him. "Don't you like it, Ryan?"

"What is it?" he mumbled.

"Not you too."

"If I don't recognize what it is, I'm not putting it in my mouth."

"I think it's veal."

"Never had it."

"Then you don't know if you like it." Sandy told him.

"At least try it." Kirsten told him and he slowly bit into it. "See? It's not that bad."

"I guess." He grumbled.

"What are we raising money for again?" Sandy asked as he watched both Seth and Ryan eat what was in front of them.

"They're building a new children's wing at the library."

"Right. Got it."

"Hey," they all looked up as Luke came up to their table. "Do you mind if I sit here with you guys? Our table has been taken over by the Newpsies."

"Come on and join us." Kirsten smiled at him as he sat beside Ryan as he pushed his plate away. "Are you done eating already, Ryan?"

"I was done before I started."

"I know what you mean, man." Luke told him. "I didn't recognize any of the food that they served."

"Can we go yet?" Ryan sighed.

"The silent auction is just starting." Kirsten told him. "A few more hours. Why don't you go try to mingle?"

"I don't mingle. Especially not with these people."

"Come on, Chino." Luke told him. "Let's go see how outrageous everyone's bids are on the auction items."

"Fine." Ryan sighed as he shoved his chair back and started to follow Luke.

"You two stay away from the bar." Sandy called after them.

"Thanks for that." Ryan mumbled a he and Luke weaved their way through the crowd to make it to the other side of the room.

"So things are still intense at home?" Luke looked at him as they got themselves some drinks.

"I still have no door and no privileges." Ryan took a drink. "And we started going to these pointless support group meetings for foster families."

"What are they like?"

"We start with family group sessions, then I have a one-on-one session. And my counselor wants me to write in this stupid journal. Which I haven't yet, but Kirsten blackmailed me into a free day tomorrow if I write in it."

"So you're going to?"

"Maybe. I haven't decided yet. Maybe I'll just make it look like I'm writing in it."

"Hey, guys." They turned around and saw Summer. "How are you doing, Ryan?"

"Fine." Ryan answered her curtly.

"She's not here. You don't have to worry." She informed him.

"Is that why you're here? So you can report back to her?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" she became defensive.

"This is the first time you've ever approached me without her. It's not like we ever hung out or talked before."

"You're right." She admitted. "But just so you know, I don't trust him either. Oliver, I mean."

"You don't?"

"No."

"Are you being truthful or-"

"She's being sincere." Luke told him. "You don't have to be so defensive with everybody, you know."

"That's just my nature." He told them as he seemed to relax a little. "But thank you, Summer."

"Come on. Let's see if we can find something fun to do." Summer started to pull them away.

"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to have fun." Ryan retorted. "Everything else has been taken away from me."

"Sandy and Kirsten are preoccupied right now anyway." Luke told him and he reluctantly followed them after double-checking where his guardians were.

* * *

><p>Sandy pulled himself away from another crowd of people that had stopped him to talk 'briefly', but had turned in to almost an hour. He scanned the entire hall looking for Ryan and Seth. Seth was over near the exit with Anna look impatient to leave as was he. He looked throughout the entire room, but found no sign of Ryan. He spotted Kirsten talking to some of the distributers for the event and walked towards her.<p>

"Excuse me," he interrupted their conversation. "But I need to borrow my wife."

"What's the matter?" Kirsten started to get worried when she saw his facial expression.

"I can't find Ryan." He told her. "I found Seth, but Ryan is no where I can see."

"Don't panic. He probably went outside to get away from everyone." They met up with Seth and they all went out the double doors leading outside.

"Hey. You guys leaving, too?" Jimmy came up to them with Caitlin.

"As soon as we find Ryan. Have you seen him?"

"Yeah. I saw him as we were arriving. He was heading towards the beach with Summer and Luke. That was a couple hours ago, though."

"Unbelievable." Sandy mumbled as they started towards the beach.

"Sandy, calm down. We don't know that he's doing anything." Kirsten told him as they neared an area lit by a campfire and a group of people laughing and drinking out of cans.

"You were saying?" Sandy looked at her.

"Ryan," Kirsten approached where Ryan was sitting before the campfire.

"Hey." He looked back at them. "Is it time to go yet?"

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded as Ryan stood up with the can still in his hand.

"This is not alcohol of any kind." Ryan told them as he finally comprehended why they looked so mad. "It's just soda. You can see for yourself."

"Yeah. The guy in the kitchen gave us as much as we wanted." Luke told them.

"I so don't do that kind of thing anymore." Summer added. "Not after what happened in TJ."

"And I don't do that either." Ryan looked them in the eye. "You should know why."

"Have you guys been out here the whole time?" Sandy asked.

"Yeah." Ryan shrugged. "It's better that being in that stuffy room with all those snobs."

"Well, we're glad that you're not doing what we thought you were doing." Kirsten told him. "But we need to get back home now."

"Fine." Ryan threw his pop can down as he turned to Summer and Luke again. "I guess I'll see you around. Maybe."

Ryan was silent the whole way back to the house and refused to engage in any kind of conversation with any of them. As soon as they pulled up the driveway, Ryan got out of the car and stormed inside.

"Ryan, what's the matter?" Kirsten asked as Seth managed to sneak by them and go upstairs to his room. "Why are you so mad?"

"It's nice to know how you really think of me." He turned around and glared at them. "You see me on the beach drinking out of an aluminum can and you immediately jump to me drinking beer."

"Look, we're sorry about that." Sandy told him.

"It's fine. At least now I know where I'll always stand with you guys."

"And where is that exactly?"

"I'm always going to be the kid from Chino. The kid from the wrong side of the tracks who drinks and smokes and who will never change from my old ways."

"Ryan-" Kirsten started, but he stormed up the stairs and disappeared around the corner. "We still have a long way to go with him."

"Yes we do." They both sighed deeply as they went to their room.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? I'm going to try to put the next chapter out sooner. Anyway, please R&R!


	6. Ch 6: Family Discussion

**Summary: **In the middle of the Oliver situation. Sandy and Kirsten, fed up with Ryan's actions, decide on a tough love approach. Will he do what they say, or push them away?

**AN: **Another update for all you loyal readers of this story. Thank you for all the reviews I've been getting from this. I appreciate all the constructive criticism I've been getting. It helps me out because I'm trying to be a better writer. Anyway, tell me what you think about this latest update. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See previous chapters.

**Chapter 6: Family Discussion**

The day after the charity event for the library, Ryan awoke earlier than he planned. He wanted to take advantage of the free time he was given in case they planned to take it away because of how he talked to them the night before. He quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt and started downstairs with the dreaded notebook in hand. He saw that someone had already started a pot of coffee and quickly filled a cup for himself as he grabbed a bagel off the counter. He started to go out the doors leading onto the patio when they opened and Seth came in.

"Hey." He greeted Ryan. "Morning."

"Morning." Ryan mumbled. "Why are you up so early?"

"I was supposed to clean the pool days ago. Dad dragged me out of bed this morning before he went surfing." He told him. "It's all yours now."

"Thanks." Ryan started to move past him.

"Hey. If I can talk them into it, do you maybe want to go down to the pier for lunch? Maybe to the diner? Or the Crab Shack?"

"I don't think they'll go for that after how I talked to them last night."

"But if I can?" Seth looked at him hopeful.

"Maybe. I'll get back to you." Ryan headed outside and closed the door behind him as Kirsten came in to get some coffee.

"Hey, honey. Is Ryan up yet?"

"Yeah. He just went outside." He told her.

"I'm going to see if he wants any breakfast."

"He had some coffee and a bagel with him. I don't think he wants to see you or dad just yet."

"Did you see if he had his notebook with him?"

"He had it." He told her. "I'd kind of lay off him a little bit today if I were you. I think he wants a little distance after last night."

"You're right." She looked out the double doors and saw Ryan starting to sit in one of the patio chairs, then she turned back around. "Seth, I want to ask your opinion on something. And you have to be completely honest with me."

"Ok." He slowly sat down at the counter.

"Do you think that we've treated Ryan fairly since he moved in?"

"Honestly?" he looked at her and she nodded. "No, I don't."

"Would you please elaborate on that?"

"I won't get punished for whatever I say, right?"

"No punishment." She assured him.

"Well, you seem to always be looking for reasons to yell at him. Like you're expecting him to screw up."

"I do?"

"I know you don't realize it, but you sometimes still treat him like the felon that dad brought home that first night. Except you're now trying to get him involved in school and his future."

"And what about your father?"

"What about me?" Sandy came in, fresh from surfing. "Did you get the pool cleaned out, son?"

"Yes." Seth rolled his eyes at him.

"So what are we talking about?"

"I asked Seth if he thinks we've treated Ryan fairly since he moved in."

"And?"

"Apparently, I still treat him like a felon and keep expecting him to screw up."

"And what about me?" Sandy looked at Seth.

"I think you expect too much of him." Seth told him.

"What do you mean?"

"You brought him here, you enrolled him in Harbor, and you expect him to play nice with a town that looks down on him because of where he's from."

"Ok." Sandy slowly sat down beside him. "Anything else?"

"You guys used to be close. You used to talk; as much as he could anyway. But for some reason, that just stopped one day. I could tell that hurt him, but you know how he is. He wouldn't say anything bad about either of you unless you cornered him."

"Which is what we've had to do the last couple of weeks." Kirsten sighed.

"And no offense, but you guys were a little harsh when you handed out his punishment for the fight with Oliver." Seth told them.

"Seth-"

"I get it. He messed up. He knows that, too. But don't you think that taking away the door was going too far?"

"Ok. It may have." Sandy sighed.

"Not that I would, but would you have really gone that extreme if it was me? It was his first fight since Cotillion. Except for that thing with Luke on the soccer field, which I don't think that should count. And yes, breaking into the file room was crossing the line-and I may have inadvertently put the idea in his head-but do you really have to be so harsh?" Seth took a deep breath. "If it was me, you most likely would've grounded me for a couple weeks and made me do some extra chores around the house. So why are you treating Ryan so different?"

"Ok. We get the point, son."

"It's like he thinks that with each thing you take away from him, you're one step closer to running out of things to take away. And eventually, you're just going to give up on him all together."

"Ok. We get it." Sandy looked at him. "You gave us a lot to think about."

"Why don't you let us talk about it?" Kirsten told him. "See if you can hang out with Anna today."

"Anna's busy today. But could Ryan and I have lunch on the pier? He said he'd think about it if you guys told me yes."

"We'll consider it while we talk." Kirsten told him as he got off the stool and started back upstairs.

"Ok. I feel lower than low." Sandy sighed.

"I feel lower than you." Kirsten sighed as she watched Ryan outside. "I think we need some counseling with just the two of us as well."

"Maybe that's a good idea." Sandy agreed.

* * *

><p>Ryan finally walked outside after talking briefly to Seth. The truth was that he did miss talking-not really talking, more like listening-and hanging out with Seth. But he was really hurt by him when he continued to take Oliver's side over his; again and again and again. Maybe it was about time that he and Seth came to terms, at least.<p>

Ryan sat in one of the patio chairs as he slowly opened the notebook. He looked at the list of things he was supposed to write about and sighed as he realized how lame they were. He tried to get comfortable on the chair, but something was digging into his back. He got off the chair and picked up the towel that was draped over the back and something fell out of it. He immediately recognized it as Seth's iPod with a piece of paper stuck to it. He picked up the iPod and opened the piece of paper and saw Seth's handwriting:

'Hey, man. I know mom told you that you could sit outside today, so I thought maybe you'd like to listen to some tunes. I'm not sure if it's ok with mom though so if you see her coming you can quickly hide it in the towel again.'

Ryan looked back towards the house and saw the three of them in the kitchen; most likely talking about him. He put one of the ear buds in so that he could hear with his other ear if anyone came outside and turned on the iPod.

* * *

><p>Kirsten walked out onto the patio around lunchtime and saw Ryan stuffing what looked like Seth's iPod in the towel behind him. He looked up at her as she stood beside his chair.<p>

"How's it going?" she asked him.

"Fine." He said shortly.

"How are you doing with that?" she gestured to the notebook he was hastily closing.

"It's stupid." He mumbled.

"Why is it stupid?"

"How is listing my favorite things supposed to help me?"

"Nicole is a professional. She's been doing this for years. That means that she knows what she's doing. So I think you should trust her."

"Right now, I trust her more than I trust you and Sandy." He glared at her.

"I guess I deserve that after last night."

"No offense," Ryan stood up and gathered his things. "But I don't really feel like talking to you."

"Ryan-" she started and was met with a cold stare as he stormed into the house as Sandy was coming out to see how they were doing.

"Ryan-" Sandy attempted.

"I don't want to talk to you either." He stated as he started up the stairs.

Ryan fumed as he reached upstairs and threw the notebook in the guest room and went next door to Seth's room. He knocked softly on the door and heard Seth tell him to come in. He slowly opened the door and saw Seth sitting on his bed as he read one of his comic books.

"Hey." Ryan greeted him softly.

"Hey." Seth sat up as he came into his room further. "So did you use it today?"

"Yeah. Thanks." He put it down by him on the bed. "I should probably get back."

"Wait." Seth stopped him. "Would you like to hang out in here? I have an actual door that can close."

"What would we do?"

"I have some new comics I just got in a couple days ago." He pulled them out for him. "Or we could just listen to music."

"I guess I could do that." Ryan sat in the chair by Seth's desk and picked out a couple CDs to listen to.

"Hey Ryan, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." Seth told him. "For not having your back with this Oliver thing. You're right. I should have."

"It's ok." Ryan told him as he turned the volume on the stereo up a little bit.

"No, it's not. From this moment on, I'm going to prove to you that I'll always have your back now."

"So does that mean that you were able to talk your parents into letting us go out to lunch?" he smiled at him, and Seth knew that he was already forgiven.

"They're still thinking about it." He told him. "If they say yes, where do you want to go?"

"The Crab Shack." He told him. "But if they say yes, we should call Luke and Summer to see if they can meet us there. Oh, sorry. I guess we can't invite Summer because of Anna."

"You don't have to worry about Anna." Seth mumbled.

"Why not?"

"It's nothing."

"Come on, Seth. I feel like it's all been about me lately. What's going on?"

"Anna and I broke up." Seth told him.

"Why'd she break up with you?"

"Why do you automatically assume-"

"Seth," Ryan gave him one of his looks.

"Ok. So she broke up with me, but you're supposed to have my back."

"A little payback for the last few weeks." Ryan smirked at him and Seth knew that he was just joking with him. "So what happened?"

"She said she could feel that I was going to end it soon, and wanted to do it before she got hurt."

"Were you going to break up with her?"

"I was thinking about it."

"So she just beat you to it?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah. I guess so."

"So what's the problem then? It frees you up to ask Summer out."

"If she'll have me." He mumbled.

"Just ask her." Ryan told him.

"Seth?" there was a knock on the door and Sandy slowly opened the door. "Have you seen-Ryan, you're in here."

"Yep." He mumbled as he swiveled the chair around so his back was facing towards him. "Just hanging out in a room with a door."

"Listen, about lunch-"

"So can we go down to the pier?" Seth asked him.

"Your mother and I decided you both can go down to the pier for lunch." Sandy told them as Ryan slowly turned back around. "Your mother and I actually have some errands to run, so we'll be out of the house as well."

"So that means we can stay out longer than lunch, right?"

"You can stay out for a few hours, that's it." Sandy looked at them both firmly. "If you both aren't home by the time your mother and I are, there will be severe consequences for you both."

"What else could you possibly do to me?" Ryan mumbled.

"Consider it a probation period." Sandy told him. "You do everything right today, then we'll consider giving you some of your freedom back."

"Fine." Ryan turned off Seth's radio and got out of the chair. "Can we go now then?"

"Yeah. Let's go." Seth got off the bed and started to follow him out. "So how about some extra spending money, pops?"

"Here you go." Sandy handed him two twenty dollar bills. "One of those is for Ryan. Make sure you give it to him."

"Got it." Seth caught up to Ryan outside as Sandy walked into the kitchen and saw Kirsten hanging up the phone.

"So?" He looked at her.

"Nicole is in her office doing some paper work. She agreed to have us come in and talk to her for a little bit."

"The boys just left for the pier." He told her. "I told them they both had to be home by the time we got back and we'd consider giving Ryan some of his privileges back."

"I guess we should go then." Kirsten found the keys and they walked outside.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? I figured it was about time that Ryan made amends with Seth at least. PLZ R&R!


	7. Ch 7: Confrontations

**AN: **I know it's been awhile since I posted to this story, but I had a hard time writing this chapter. I hope it came out all right. I've been getting a few reviewers asking if Taylor was going to be in this story. I'm sorry to everyone who is hopeful about that, but Taylor is not going to be in this story. This will be a strictly Cohen + 1 for the most part. I do have an idea about who Ryan could possibly hook up with during this story. If you guys guess right in your reviews I'll give you a shoutout in the next chapter. It's definitely not who you would expect. That's all I'm saying. Anyhow, PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 7: Confrontations**

Ryan and Seth silently walked into the Crab Shack and sat in a vacant booth. Ryan had called Luke and Summer from the car and they both said they'd meet them there in a little bit. Ryan was quiet the whole car ride except when he was on the phone.

"Should we order now, or wait for Summer and Luke?" Ryan finally asked.

"We can order now." Seth told him. "Who knows how long it'll take them to get ready and be here."

"You're right." Ryan waved over his old boss so they could place their orders.

"Hey Atwood, when are you going to come back and help us out?"

"That's up to the Cohen's, I guess."

"Well, you let me know. I'd hate not to have one of my best workers for the Summer." He walked away to put their orders in as Seth and Ryan waited for Luke and Summer to arrive.

"We're here," Summer and Luke rushed inside. "Did you guys order yet?"

"Actually, we did." Ryan told them.

"We weren't sure how long you guys would take to get here." Seth added.

"Not a problem." Summer got up to place her order at the counter and Luke followed her.

"So I guess you guys are talking again." Luke came back to them.

"Yeah. We worked it out." Ryan told him.

"Uh-oh." Summer mumbled as she looked towards the entrance.

"What-" they all looked where she was and spotted Marissa coming in with Oliver.

"Let me out." Ryan nudged Seth.

"Dude-"

"I'm just going to the bathroom. I'll be right back." Seth let him out and he walked back to the bathroom.

"Hey, guys." Marissa came up to them.

"Marissa." Summer glared at her.

"I've been trying to call you all day, Sum." Marissa told her. "I wanted to have lunch with you."

"We wanted to have lunch with you." Oliver added.

"Well as you can see, I'm all booked up for lunch." Summer told them.

"Do you mind if we join you guys then?"

"Actually, we do." Luke held firm to the chair that Oliver was trying to pull out so he could sit down with them. "See, we're eating with someone who isn't going to want you to join us."

"Who are you eating with?" Marissa inquired.

"Me." they all turned and saw Ryan standing behind Oliver. "I was just using the bathroom before our food arrived. Now move so I can sit down."

Ryan shoved past Oliver and slid into the booth as Seth stood up to let him back in. Marissa looked at them all curiously as Ryan basically ignored her.

"You're having lunch with Ryan?" Marissa looked at Summer.

"Absolutely." she stated. "See I don't have to wait around to be a friend when it's convenient for him. He wants to hang out with no strings attached."

"If you don't mind, it looks like our food is coming." Seth told them. "We'd rather not share it with you."

"We're going." Marissa turned away as Oliver glared at Ryan before starting to follow her.

"Oh. Hey Oliver, good luck with your train wreck." Ryan called after him.

"Excuse me?" he turned back around to face him.

"I'm talking about Marissa." he stated. "It's a full-time job to make sure she doesn't go off the deep-end. Good luck with that because you're definitely going to need it."

"Ryan-" Marissa started.

"I have nothing to say to you. We're done indefinitely. You're Oliver's problem now." Ryan smirked as they both walked away from their table and their food arrived.

"Nice one, Chino." Luke smiled.

"It felt so good to get that off my chest." Ryan told them. "So anyway, what's new with you guys?"

Luke and Summer smiled as they told him what all had been happening at Harbor while he was suspended.

* * *

><p>Sandy and Kirsten walked into Nicole's office and saw her working at the desk as there were piles of papers spread all around her.<p>

"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen," she smiled up at them. "What can I do for you? It sounded important when we spoke on the phone."

"Well basically, we've screwed up big time." Sandy stated as they sat down in front of her desk.

"And we've been screwing up ever since we decided to officially make Ryan a part of our family."

"Ok. I think you better start from the beginning." Nicole told them. "What started all this?"

"It all started last night..." They started to tell her about the blackmailing to get Ryan to go to the fundraiser the night before, what happened last night, this morning, and Seth telling it like how he saw it.

"Ok. Sounds like we have our work cut out for us." Nicole told them. "I think we should begin with last night. When you saw him with his friends, why did you automatically think that he was drinking alcohol?"

"We're not really sure." Sandy sighed. "With everything that's happened lately, we figured he'd try to rile us up by going completely out-of-bounds with his actions."

"Understandable, I guess." Nicole looked through a file on her desk. "But you both told me that you wanted to break down his barriers and get him to trust you. No offense, but you're not doing a very fine job of that."

"We are well aware of that." Kirsten sighed. "Will we ever be where we want to with him?"

"I think so, but it's not going to be easy. So let me ask, why were you so harsh with his punishment when he got in that fight?"

"We needed something to get his attention. Nothing seemed to be breaking through to him." Sandy explained. "So we moved him out of his comfort zone of the pool house. I realize now, after talking to Seth this morning, that the door thing was a little harsh. It seemed to work for a little while at least."

"What was Ryan's reaction to all of it?"

"He seemed to find a loop hole in every punishment we gave him."

"Like what?"

"Well, we told him that he had to join us for every meal. He pointed out that we didn't say anything about him eating with us."

"And he found a curtain to nail in the doorway of the guest room because we never said anything about him using something else as a door." Kirsten added.

"You have to admit, the kids a smart one." Nicole told them.

"We know."

"Look, first thing first. You need to gain back some of his trust." Nicole took out some papers. "I know you have meals together, but do you guys ever talk at these dinners?"

"If you count us telling Ryan to stop brooding and eat."

"That's what I thought. I have some suggestions." Nicole handed them the stack of papers and they started to look through them. "I'm not saying that it will happen overnight, but hopefully you all can start the process."

* * *

><p>Ryan and Luke walked into the arcade that was on the pier as Seth and Summer disappeared towards the boardwalk. Ryan convinced him to talk to Summer while he and Luke found something entertaining to do.<p>

"Air hockey!" Luke spotted the vacant table. "How about it Chino?"

"Sure. Why not?" Ryan put some money in the slots and they started to play.

"So did you mean what you said to Oliver at the diner?" Luke asked him. "You're really done with Marissa for good?"

"Absolutely." Ryan stated. "It was just too easy for an almost stranger to come between us. Imagine if something really big was thrown at us."

"I guess you're right." they continued to play their game completely oblivious to the figure positioned at the door of the arcade watching their every move.

A couple hours later, Luke and Ryan parted ways and Ryan went in search of Seth. He found him sitting on a bench staring out at the water.

"Hey, man. Are you ready to go yet?"

"Sure. Let's go." he slowly stood and they made their way back to the car.

"So what happened with Summer? Did you talk to her?" Ryan asked him as they started to pull away.

"Kind of. She just started yelling at me as I started to talk."

"Why?"

"I told her that Anna and I broke up, and before I could attempt to ask her out she started yelling that she wasn't going to be my sloppy seconds."

"So give her a bit to calm down, and ask her again."

"I guess." they got to the house and saw the other car still gone. "So since the 'rents are still out, what do you say to sneaking some Playstation action.

"Sure. Why not?" they both went inside and set themselves in front of the TV in the den.

* * *

><p>Seth and Ryan ended up playing for the next several hours until they heard Sandy and Kirsten arrive back home and Ryan quickly went upstairs to the guest room. He pretended to be sleeping when Sandy, and then Kirsten decided to peek in on him.<p>

The next morning, Ryan slowly awoke in his current room as he heard noises in the distance. He became fully awake as he realized that all the loud noises were coming from outside the guest room. He slowly climbed out of bed and pulled the sheet to the side as he saw Sandy with a screw driver and a few long screws as Seth and Kirsten held the missing door in place.

"What are you doing?" Ryan asked softly

"Good, you're here." Seth said. "You can hold this now. I am so not good at manual labor."

"Help me hold this in place, Ryan." Kirsten told him as Seth disappeared down the hall into his room.

"So you're giving me a door again. Why?" Ryan helped hold it in place as Sandy finished with the last screw.

"We realize now that it may have been a bit harsh to take away all of your privacy." Sandy told him.

"Sandy," Kirsten looked at him.

"Ok. I admit it was harsh." Sandy sighed. "This is done now. So why don't you go get dressed and meet us downstairs to have breakfast. We've planned a little family meeting."

"Family meeting?" Ryan looked at them both.

"No one is in trouble." Kirsten assured him. "We just need to discuss some things as a family."

"Fine." Ryan went back into the guest room to get dressed and use the bathroom and shower.

He walked downstairs fifteen minutes later and discovered that they weren't kidding about the family meeting. They were all sitting at the table as they slowly ate some breakfast. He slipped into the chair next to Seth's with Sandy and Kirsten sitting across from them. Ryan slowly ate the bagel that was in front of him as he waited for someone to start talking.

"Ok. As we said before, no one is in trouble. This is an open forum for us to discuss anything with no chance of repercussions from it."

"So it's another support group meeting." Ryan mumbled.

"In a way."

"But right now, we have the floor." Kirsten told them. "First of all, you both should know that we had a meeting with Nicole yesterday."

"Why?" Ryan questioned.

"A few of our flaws were pointed out to us yesterday."

"What?" Ryan glanced at Seth.

"Sorry, man. They asked my opinion, so I told them the truth."

"We're glad he did." Sandy told him. "And Nicole was very insightful. She gave us a few ideas on how we should start to communicate with each other better."

"Like what?"

"For instance, we're going to set aside two nights each week for family time. One will be Family Movie Night, and one will be Family Game Night."

"On these nights there will be no phones, no work, no school, no outside interference. It will be just the four of us all night."

"Sounds kind of corny, but it would be a little cool to see the 'rents attempt some of the video games." Seth said.

"Sorry, son. That's not the type of games we'll be playing." Sandy told him. "It'll be more like Monopoly or Clue."

"Oh god, that is going to be a complete torture-fest." Seth moaned.

"Get over it, son. If you miss even one of these nights, you'll be grounded for a week."

"So what do you think, Ryan?" Kirsten looked at him as she realized that he had been quiet the whole time.

"It's not as if I have a choice." Ryan mumbled. "Whatever you want I'll do, but you can't make me interact."

"Maybe you're right." Sandy told him. "But we're sure going to try."

"Can we go now?" Seth asked. "I have a very important phone call to make."

"You're both excused."

"Oh Ryan," Kirsten stopped him. "Nicole said that she would like you to write about number ten on the list she gave you with that notebook."

"What?"

"She knows you're not that far down on the list, but she would really like you to do it. She said you won't have to show her or anyone else, but she thinks that it's a good idea if you do it."

"Fine." Ryan got up from the table and went up to the guest room.

He could hear talking in his room and knew that he was trying to talk to Summer. He slowly sat on the bed and took out the notebook. He glanced at the numbered list on the first page and sighed when he read number ten.

_# 10: Write a letter to your parents/guardians. In the letter, tell them everything you've ever wanted to say to them, but didn't have the courage to say out loud._

Ryan sighed as he snapped the cover shut. There was no way he was going to write a letter of that magnitude to Sandy and Kirsten. He didn't care if they all yelled at him for days. He could handle yelling. Yelling was nothing compared to what he was used to.

**AN: **So what'd you all think of this newest chapter? Who do you think was watching Ryan and Luke at the arcade? How will the Cohen +1 first Family Night turn out? Will Ryan write that letter? Stay tuned to find out. PLZ R&R!

**AN2: **To anyone who is interested, I have a story going on fictionpress under the same name. I'd really appreciate it if you checked it out and told me what you thought. If not, that's ok too. I have also reactivated my livejournal account. My username is bobbiejod1. If any of you belong to this community, let me know by subscribing to mine, and I'll subscribe to yours. Thanx!


	8. Ch 8: Family Time

**AN: **Ok. So no one guessed correctly on who I plan on hooking Ryan up with. Hopefully, you'll be able to figure it out from this chapter by a few subtle hints that I left. Anyway, I'm glad there are people still reading this. So PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 8: Family Time**

Monday morning came and they were all anxious as they waited for Ryan to come downstairs. He finally emerged with his school books and grabbed a bottle of orange juice and glanced at them.

"So who am I being forced to go with today?" he grumbled.

"Actually, Dr. Kim just called." Sandy told him. "She's cleared you to go back today, but she said she's going to be watching you."

"Whatever." he grabbed a bagel and started out of the kitchen. "I'll be in the car."

"How many classes do you have with him, Seth?" Kirsten looked at him.

"Just a couple." he told them.

"Make sure you make it a point to hang with Ryan today."

"I always hang with him at school."

"Well, it's especially important today." Sandy told him. "People are not going to give him a free pass."

"Believe me, I know." Seth mumbled.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing." Seth said hastily as he grabbed a bagel as well. "Let's go. Don't want to be late."

"All right." Sandy followed him out and they joined Ryan in the BMW.

The ride over to the high school was quiet. Both Sandy and Seth kept shooting glances back at Ryan as he ignored both of their attempts at any kind of conversation. As soon as the car came to a stop, Ryan got out of the car as fast as he could so he didn't have to listen to Sandy telling him to stay out of trouble. Seth ran to catch up to him and found him at his locker depositing all his books except the ones he'd need for his morning classes. Seth slowly approached him as he saw everyone staring at them.

"Hey, man. You want to stop and get a coffee in the student union?" Seth asked him. "It's better than standing around out here."

"Sure." Ryan followed Seth in to get a coffee.

"Hey, guys." they were greeted by Anna and Luke. "We heard you were coming back today. We just weren't sure if it was true."

"Here I am." Ryan took his coffee and started to walk out again.

"Dude, the bell hasn't even rung yet." Seth called after him.

"It will soon." he retorted.

"Don't worry about him so much, Cohen." Luke told him. "He's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Seth mumbled.

"Don't worry."Anna told him. "I have practically every class with him. And the ones I don't, one of you two have with him. So he'll be around at least one of us all day."

"I guess you're right." Seth mumbled. "I just wish we could tell someone what was going on."

"We promised Ryan that we wouldn't say anything to anyone." she reminded him.

"I can't believe you're still talking to me." he looked at her.

"I may have been the one to do the breaking up, but I know that it was a mutual decision. No hard feelings, Seth."

"All right." they all walked to their classes as the warning bell rang.

Ryan was never so happy to be at lunch. His day so far had been such torture. Students and teachers alike were not making it easy for him today, and he knew that it would just get worse for the rest of the day. He slumped into a seat beside Anna at the table she was sharing with Luke, Seth, and Summer. He sighed as he slowly started eating whatever it was that was on his plate.

"How's it going?" Summer asked him and he gave her a look. "That bad, huh?"

"You don't have any classes with him, so you haven't seen how everyone has been treating him." Seth told her.

"The teachers don't stop it either."Anna added.

"They're worse than the students." Luke said.

"Chino, you really need to tell someone." Summer told him. "Someone really needs to do something. Maybe the Cohen's can-"

"I'm not going to tattle like a pansy." Ryan told her. "I can handle it. I've dealt with much worse than this."

"Well, the good news is that you have English Composition next with me." Anna told him. "Mr. York likes you."

"Great. I get a reprieve for one class." Ryan mumbled.

Fifteen minutes later, Ryan and Anna walked together into their English class and sat beside each other at the long oval table as everyone continued to file in around them.

"Oh, look. The psycho is back." one of the jocks looked at Ryan.

"Is that the best you can do?" Ryan asked.

"Probably." Anna announced. "He doesn't have much brain cells left after getting hit in the head with the ball so many times. That's why they haven't won any games all season."

"All right, class. That's enough." Mr. York came in and set his things down as Ryan handed in his missing work. "Thank you, Mr. Atwood. Glad to have you back again."

"I told you." Anna whispered as they were instructed to begin work on one of the pages in their books.

"Mr. Atwood, are you having any problems with your work?" Mr. York noticed that he wasn't working.

"No. I've already finished it." he pulled some papers out of his notebook and handed them to the teacher. "I've had a lot of time on my hands this past week."

"In that case, work on a few of the writing exercises in your writing journal."

"Another journal." he mumbled as he sighed deeply and worked on one of the exercises for the remainder of the class period.

The class let out and Anna followed close behind Ryan as they walked down the hall to the next class they shared with Seth and Luke.

"So if you're having any trouble catching up in any of your classes, I could help you out." Anna suggested.

"That'd be great, but I'm still on house arrest. I'm surprised they let me come here today." he mumbled.

"Well, maybe I can talk to them."

"I wouldn't just yet. I mean, give them a few days maybe."

"Sure." she smiled as they joined Seth and Luke in Spanish class.

After school, Kirsten picked them up from school telling them that they had family plans that night. Seth kept trying to get it out of her what these plans entailed, but she stayed tight-lipped until they got back to the house. When they walked into the house, they heard a lot of noise coming from the kitchen. When they walked in, they saw Sandy pulling several items from the refrigerator and placing them on the counter.

"Hey, fellas." he greeted them as they came into him. "Hand over your cell phones."

"Why?" Seth questioned.

"It's Family Night." Kirsten informed them. "So hand over your phones now."

"You still have mine." Ryan mumbled as he threw his bag down on the floor in the hall and Seth reluctantly handed his over.

"Well, if you participate tonight, we'll consider giving it back to you."

"It's not like I have anybody who I'd want to call." he rejoined them in the kitchen as he saw what looked like a giant pizza crust sitting on the counter; it had markings on it where it was separated into four sections. "So what are we doing?"

"Ok. Here's the deal." Sandy started. "This is a pizza crust. We each get a section to put whatever ingredients we want on it. And while we're cooking it, we have a special project that you're going to do."

"What kind of special project?" Seth asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." Kirsten told him. "Now let's get started."

"This is so lame." Ryan mumbled as he approached the counter behind Seth.

"You're both doing this." Sandy told them. "So let's get started."

Ryan and Seth glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders as they went to the pizza crust. Seth immediately started putting ingredients on his quarter as Ryan scanned all the items spread out on the counter. He started to walk away, but Sandy spotted him.

"Ryan, we didn't say you could leave the room."

"Who said I was leaving? You forgot something." Ryan opened the refrigerator to get something out and brought a bottle back to them.

"Ranch dressing?" Seth spotted the bottle he was pouring over his quarter of the crust. "That's disgusting."

"You're don't have to eat it." Ryan told him as they all continued to decorate their portions of the pizza crust.

After they were all done decorating it, Sandy and Kirsten got it into the oven and set the timer. Kirsten went to a cupboard behind the middle counter and produced some poster board that she gave to each of them.

"Ok. So the pizza will take about an hour to finish baking." she told them. "During that time, you are to take these and decorate them with pictures of things that you like or would like to do someday. You can use pictures or cut-outs from any magazine you can find in the house."

"Any magazine?" Ryan questioned. "Does that include any that can be found in either of your offices?"

"Yes." she told him.

"Ok." he walked out of the room with the poster board and disappeared up the stairs as they looked at each other bewildered.

"What could he want from our offices?" Sandy asked.

"I guess we'll find out." she told him as she realized that Seth had moved into the den with some magazines, scissors, and some glue.

Ryan sat perched on the bed as he stared at the blank poster board. He glanced at the pictures and words that he had cut out of the magazines he had gathered. Did he really want to put himself out there and reveal some personal things about himself? In the end, he threw caution to the wind and started to glue everything he had cut out to the poster board.

"Ryan?" there came a knock on the door.

"It's only been fifteen minutes. You said I got an hour."

"I just wanted to make sure you had enough to do the project." Kirsten said softly.

"I'm fine." he called exasperated. "Just come get me when the time is up."

He heard her walk back down the stairs and got back to work. He started to cut out more pictures and soon every white space on the board was covered.

"Ok, Ryan! Your time is up and the pizza is ready." he slowly walked out and down the stairs as he kept it hidden until he got to the kitchen where the pizza was out on the counter as Sandy carefully cut it up into small squares.

"We won't reveal our boards until after we eat." Kirsten told them. "Grab some pizza. You can sample what everyone else made as well."

Ryan grabbed one square from each section and followed Seth to the table with a bottle of ice tea. He spotted a glass jar sitting in the middle of the table. The lid was off and it had folded up pieces of paper stuffed inside it. Ryan looked over at Seth and he shrugged his shoulders.

"What is that for?" Seth looked at his parents.

"This is to start the conversation rolling." Sandy explained to them. "On each piece of paper is a question that involves more of an answer than yes, no, or fine."

"Now who wants to start?" Kirsten asked them.

Both Ryan and Seth remained silent as they slowly ate the pizza that was in front of them. Ryan picked at one of the pieces as he glanced at the glass jar in the center of the table. He knew that he wasn't going to try it no matter what they said.

"Seth, why don't you go?" Kirsten pushed the jar towards him as he sighed and slowly reached his hand in and pulled out one of the slips of paper. "What's it say?"

"My kind of question. If you had a superpower, which one would it be?" Ryan blocked out the debate Seth was having with himself and just concentrated on eating.

"What about you, Ryan?" Sandy asked him.

"What?" he looked up at him.

"Which superpower would you have?"

"Don't know." he mumbled.

"You have to answer."

"Why?" he glared across the table at both Sandy and Kirsten.

"Come on, man." Seth told him. "It's fun."

"Fine. I'd want to be invisible so that no one would bug me and they would leave me the hell alone." he stated, sending the other three into complete silence.

"Maybe you should draw a question." Seth told Ryan after a long period of silence. "Maybe you'll find a stupid, corny one that we can make fun of."

"Fine." Ryan sighed as he reached his hand in and pulled out one of the papers.

"What's it say?" Kirsten asked him as he unfolded it and read it before he placed it down on the table.

"Pass," he told them.

"You can't pass."

"Who says? You never said we couldn't pass on a question."

"He's right. We didn't." Sandy told her as Seth's curiosity got the better of him and he looked at the question that Ryan had just pulled.

"Ok. I think he has good reason to pass on this one." Seth told them. "It says, What's your best childhood memory?"

"I don't have any good childhood memories, so I pass." Ryan pushed his chair back and got up from the table. "I'm going upstairs, and don't try to stop me."

They all fell into silence as they heard him stomp up the stairs and slam the door to the guest room.

"That went well." Seth mumbled.

"I didn't even read the questions as I was printing them off the computer." Kirsten sighed. "I should've known better."

"It's not your fault." Sandy assured her.

"Not totally anyway." Seth told them.

"Seth, how is that helpful?"

"And you think forcing family togetherness on him is helpful? He's not used to this kind of thing. I'm pretty sure he never had a family dinner before he came here to live with us."

"You're right about that." Sandy told them both.

"Then maybe you should think about easing him into this whole family togetherness thing slowly."

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Ryan sat fuming on his bed after he stormed out of dinner. He didn't want any of what they were trying to shove down his throat. He got up off the bed and went to the desk where the notebook that Nicole gave him was sitting. He opened it up to the list of things that he should write about and skimmed down to what was written by number 10.

_# 10: Write a letter to your parents/guardians. In the letter, tell them everything you've ever wanted to say to them, but didn't have the courage to say out loud._

Maybe it's not such a bad idea to write this letter to Sandy and Kirsten. At least then they would know how he really felt about everything; and maybe there was a chance that he wouldn't have to talk to them about it out loud.

**AN: **Cliffhanger! Kind of. What do you think Ryan will put in the letter? Leave your ideas in your reviews. So PLZ R&R!


	9. Ch 9: The Letter

**AN:** So I decided to post another chapter for you guys since I finished it so fast. And I'm almost done with the next chapter as well. I just need to do a quick edit. I'll post it as soon as I go through it again and get a few reviews for this chapter.And as promised, a couple of shout outs to anonymous and matthewsbj for guessing correctly in the last chapter! Anyway, onto the story! PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 9: The Letter**

Sandy sat on the couch in the living room after Seth retreated up to his room for the night. He had Ryan's and Seth's poster board projects sitting side-by-side on the coffee table before him. He was focusing more on Ryan's, though. He looked up as he heard someone walking down the hall way and saw Kirsten walking into him.

"What are you doing?" she sat down beside him. "Are these the poster boards that we had the boys do earlier?"

"Yeah."

"Seth put everything he could find on comic books and video games." she smirked. "And of course, he spelled out Summer's name."

"Take a look at Ryan's." he handed it to her. "Every white space is covered."

"Wow." she scanned the board. "So we have pictures of books, and he spelled out Harry Potter."

"He does like to read." Sandy told her. "I never knew that he read that series though."

"And he spelled out Journey." she glanced at Sandy. "That's his favorite band, right?"

"He only listens to them when he thinks we're not home."

"And a campfire?"

"I think it's about going camping. He told me he went once when he was younger." he pointed to a group of picture cut-outs on the board. "Look at that."

"It's a picture of rolls of blueprints." she looked at him. "And I recognize this picture. It's a house that's featured in one of the architecture magazines that was in my office."

"So he apparently still has an interest in architecture."

"There's still so much that we don't know about him." Kirsten sighed. "We never even attempted to get to know the real him."

"Well, hopefully this can be the start of us finally getting to know the real him." he stood up and pulled her up with him. "I think we should get some sleep."

"You're right. Start fresh tomorrow." they went to their bedroom and started to get ready for bed.

Kirsten came from the bathroom and saw Sandy sitting on one side of the bed as he stared down at a group of papers. She approached him and saw Ryan's handwriting scrawled all over the papers.

"What is that?" She sat down beside him.

"Ryan wrote us that letter that Nicole wanted him to." he handed it to her and she slowly took it from him. "Just to warn you, it's a little intense. And there are some hard truths that we need to face."

She slowly opened the leaf of papers and started to read:

_Sandy and Kirsten,_

_I don't like you. It's as simple as that. I will always respect you and admire you for taking me in when you had no idea what would happen. But you haven't treated me like a member of your family; not really. That is clearly obvious when I'm still out in the pool house and the rest of you are inside the actual house. I am on an island; which makes me come to the conclusion that you're still trying to protect your family from me no matter how many times you tell me that I am a part of your family. _

_One of the major-league problems that I have with you is that you don't listen to me; either of you. Let me rephrase: you listen, but you don't really hear me. I try to tell you a lot of things that are going on or that are important for you to know, but you don't hear me. I've tried coming to you both countless times when I suspected things about Oliver, but you brushed it off as jealousy. If you knew me at all, you would know that I don't do jealousy. But I have been around plenty of shady characters because of my mom, and by now I can tell the difference from the right kind of people and the wrong kind of people. You should've trusted me on that._

_I know that my actions weren't the greatest, but my motives were well-intentioned. But what I don't understand is why you took everything that you had offered me away as a punishment. You always said that what you offered me when I first came, that no one would be able to take it away from me. But you did. You took everything away when you realized that you would never be able to control me like you always do to Seth._

_When my mother abandoned me for the second time within a week, I thought that I wouldn't have a fighting chance. But Kirsten, you told me that I would always have a home as long as I decided to stay and to trust that you would always have my best interests at heart. At first, I was a little overwhelmed with all the new things you kept buying for me and refusing to take them back when I told you that I didn't any of it, but after awhile I looked forward to walking into the pool house and finding some new clothes or maybe a watch you saw that you thought I might like. But now I know that it all comes with a price. Because I know that the moment I screw up, all of it will disappear._

_The other problem I have with you guys, is that you never defend me; not to the Newpsies, not to Caleb, and especially not to Julie. You've heard her threaten to send me to Juvie 'where I belong' several times and you don't say anything to defend me. She blames me for everything that's gone wrong with Marissa because, according to her, she was happy before I came to town and messed everything up. We all know that's not true even a little bit, but you just sit back and let her spew out her insults to me and don't say anything to her in my defense._

_I'm not sure if I really want to be a part of this family if this is how you treat someone who you say is supposedly your 'other son'. If this is how 'real families' act, then I'd rather spend the next two years with Dawn as she goes through all the destructive behavior that I remember growing up with. _

_As much as I don't want to leave Seth because he's the brother that I always wished I had, but as of right now I can't stand the so-called 'guardians' that I'm stuck with until I become the legal age and I can leave this place forever._

_Ryan_

"Wow." Kirsten sighed as she slowly set the leaf of papers down on the bed in between them.

"I know."

"Why didn't he ever tell us these things out loud?" she looked at Sandy.

"I think he thinks that we would think that he was ungrateful for what we have done for him." Sandy sighed. "Maybe he feels that we'll throw him out if he says the wrong thing. That's how he grew up."

"We need to work on these things; together, as a family like Ryan deserves."

"Well, hopefully him writing this letter is the first step." Sandy told her.

"Like I said earlier, we never even attempted to get to know the real him. We really have a lot to sort out before we attempt to be the family that he deserves. We definitely need to talk to him about this."

"Just not tonight." Sandy stopped her from going upstairs. "Let's give him the night to calm down, because he was obviously very upset when he wrote this."

"You're right." she sighed. "We'll give him the night, and try to talk to him about it all tomorrow."

They both settled into bed for the night, thinking about what all they would say to Ryan the next day. And they were both worried about how much more Ryan would reveal to them. And they were especially worried about everyone's reactions; and hoped that nothing would make Ryan do anything drastic.

**AN:** So what'd you all think? I know it's a little short, but hopefully the quality makes up for the quantity. The next chapter will have a little bit more drama in it, though. And someone will end up getting hurt, but most likely not for the reasons that you would think. That's all I'm telling you! I know, I'm evil! Anyway, PLZ R&R!


	10. Ch 10: Emergency!

**AN: **Whew! What a bust week. So many opens and closes at work. And I'm trying to fly through my schooling so I can start my next course. And I've also newly-discovered the TV show Covert Affairs with Peter Gallagher in it. It's in the fourth season right now, so I'm a little lost. But I just got the first season so maybe it will explain a little bit. Anyway, onto the story! PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 10: Emergency!**

Ryan slowly sat up as he heard the early morning visitors come onto the beach. He leaned back against the front wall of the life guard tower and sighed deeply. He watched as some people from the crowd tried to get some surfing in, and hoped that Sandy wasn't one of them. He didn't want to go back to the Cohen's just yet, but he did want to go to school. He didn't run away; not really. He just needed to escape everything for awhile. Especially after he took the plunge and left that letter for Sandy and Kirsten. He knew they were upset, and he just didn't want to have a long conversation with them about it just yet.

But Seth did deserve to know that he wasn't staying away for good. He took out the cell phone that he had taken before he left last night. It wasn't hard to find the hiding place that Sandy had put if after confiscating it from him a few weeks ago. He dialed the number and waited for him to pick up.

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Seth slowly walked into the kitchen and saw both of his parents sitting at the counter before their cups of coffee. Neither one of them were saying anything, but they both glanced up at him as they heard him come in.

"What's going on?" he asked them as he went to get himself a cup of coffee.

"We had a very long night, son." Sandy told him. "Ryan-"

"He wrote that letter, didn't he?" he sat down across from them at the counter.

"How'd you know about that?" Kirsten looked up at him.

"When I went upstairs last night, I went to check on him just to make sure he was ok. He told me that Nicole wanted him to write a letter. He said he would try to do it. So did he write it?"

"He wrote it. He left it in our room last night."

"Was it that bad?"

"It was intense." Sandy told him. "We're not going to tell you about it until we talk to Ryan about it."

"I understand."

"I'm going to see if he's awake yet. He's going to be late for school." Kirsten grabbed a bagel and poured another cup of coffee before heading up the stairs.

"Dad?" Seth looked over at him. "Will things ever be the same again?"

"Eventually." Sandy told him. "If we do things right, maybe they'll be even better than they were before."

"Is that even realistic?"

"Probably not at this time." Sandy sighed. "I have to grab some papers I need for work today. Go get ready for school."

Seth walked up stairs to his room as he heard his cell phone ring. He picked it and clicked it on.

"Hello?"

"Seth?"

"Ryan? Where are you?"

"I'm at the beach."

"You ran away?"

"No. I just needed to get away for a little bit. I promise I'm coming back."

"I understand that you needed to get away."

"Have they figured out that I'm gone yet?"

"I don't think so."

"Sandy!" Seth heard his mother yell from down the hall.

"Dude, I think they just figured it out." Seth told him as he heard his dad rush up the stairs. "Do you want to talk to them?"

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Kirsten silently walked upstairs towards the guest room with the breakfast for Ryan. She knew that it would be difficult to talk to him today, but for him to not even come downstairs for breakfast? Now that he was back in school, she knew that he would probably just try to sneak out of the house before they had a chance to speak to him about his letter. She walked into the room and put the small plate of food down on the side table as she saw a lump underneath the covers on the bed and not moving. She reached out to shake the lump, but was startled when all she felt was soft covers. She pulled the blankets back and saw a pile of pillows.

"Sandy!" She called frantically and she heard him rushing up to her.

"What's the matter?" he looked around and saw the pile of pillows on the bed.

"This is what I found a few seconds ago." She informed him. "I'm going to call around and see if anyone has seen him."

"Mom, dad," Seth came into them with the house phone in his hand. "Ryan's on the phone. He says that he didn't run away and he promises that he's on his way back."

"Ryan?" Kirsten took the phone from him. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Kirsten." She heard Ryan's soft voice.

"Where are you?" she demanded.

"On the beach. I slept in a lifeguard tower."

"We're on our way to get you."

"No. I'm on my way back now. I promise."

"You get yourself back here in a half hour or I'm coming to get you myself, do you understand?"

"I understand. I'll be there soon." Ryan told her as they both hung up.

"So where is he?" Sandy asked her.

"Apparently, he slept in one of the life guard towers last night. But he says that he's on his way back here."

"Why did he leave in the first place?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Seth looked at them. "He was worried about your reactions to the letter. He said he just needed a few hours. Probably to prepare for the big talk he knows that you're all going to have."

"I think that there's more going on that we don't know about." Sandy told them both. "And until he feels up to sharing with us, we can't really do anything."

Seth had a guilty feeling as they all filed out of the room and made their way downstairs to wait for Ryan to return.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX

Ryan coasted up the Cohen's drive and parked his bike on the side of the garage. He knew that he should go inside and let them know that he was back and that he was all right, but he needed a few more minutes for himself. He started to walk to the bottom of the driveway as he pulled out a lighter and his pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket.

"Hey, Chino!" he turned around and saw Luke and Summer approaching from across the street.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"I was going to take you and Seth to school." Summer told him. "If the Cohen's say it's all right, that is."

"I just stopped by to visit." Luke told him. "We still have a while before school starts. Are you allowed any visitors?"

"I'm not sure. You'll have to ask the warden." He mumbled.

Summer and Luke started towards him as they all heard squealing tires. Before Ryan could react, a sports car came speeding towards them. Summer screamed as Luke pulled her out of the way, but they couldn't get to Ryan in time. They watched as if in slow motion as the car careened towards Ryan and he slammed into the windshield before rolling off and landing on the concrete.

"Oh my god," Summer rushed over to Ryan as the car sped away.

"Can you tell if he's breathing?" Luke reached them.

"Yes. I can hear him breathing." Summer told him.

"Go get the Cohen's." Luke told her. "I'll stay with him."

Summer ran into the house as Luke tried to get a response from Ryan.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

Seth was sitting with his parents in the kitchen as they all waited for Ryan to return. Kirsten kept glancing down at her watch to see if his time was up and she could go out and get him herself. Suddenly, there was a loud crash from outside and they all leaped up as the door burst open and Summer rushed into them.

"You guys-You need to come out here." she tried to catch her breath.

"What happened?" Sandy asked her.

"Ryan-He was just hit by a speeding car."

"What?" they all rushed out the door and down the driveway where Luke was crouched next to an unconscious Ryan.

"What happened?" Sandy demanded as he knelt down beside them.

"This car came speeding towards him." Luke told him. "He didn't have time to react. He slammed into the windshield before the car sped off."

"Did you get a look at the car?" Kirsten knelt down on the other side of Ryan as Sandy took out his cell phone to call for an ambulance.

"I saw it."

"I saw it, too." Summer said. "It was a yellow sports car with black lines down the sides. And I saw the license plate number."

"Did you recognize it?" Seth asked them, not being able to approach too close to Ryan after seeing him so motionless.

"It was Oliver's." Summer stated. "I'm sure of it."

"The police will want to talk to you when they get here." Sandy told them as he hung up his phone and they all heard a low moan coming from Ryan.

"Stay still, sweetie." Kirsten told him. "You're going to be ok. Help is on the way."

"Hurts," he managed to get out. "Oliver-"

"Shh," she took his hand. "I can hear the sirens. They're almost here."

They all watched as an ambulance came down the street and it pulled up beside them as well as a squad car. Sandy had to pull Kirsten away from Ryan because she was refusing to leave his side as the EMTs tried to tend to him.

"Let them do their jobs, honey." He told her.

"He's so still." She whispered.

"I know." He held her as they all watched the EMTs check Ryan over and got him transferred onto a gurney.

"Is he allergic to any medications?" one of them looked up at them.

"No, nothing." Sandy answered.

"Is he going to be ok?" Kirsten watched them strap Ryan down to a backboard and place one brace around his neck and another soft brace around his left leg.

"We need to get him to the hospital." The other attendant told them. "Only one of you can ride with him."

"You go, Kirsten." Sandy told her. "We'll meet you there."

"Ok." She climbed into the back of the ambulance behind the stretcher and took Ryan's hand. "You're going to be ok, Ryan. Just hang in there."

The EMTs worked around her as they checked Ryan's vitals and tried to get him to stay conscious. He screamed out as one of the EMTs jarred his injured leg.

"Sorry about that, kid." One of them told him. "We're almost there."

"K-Kirsten," Ryan tried to turn his head to look at her and winced in pain.

"Don't try to move."

"I wasn't running away." he told her.

"I know." She gave his hand a squeeze as she saw them pull up to the hospital emergency room doors.

Kirsten tried to follow behind them as they rushed Ryan into the hospital towards the operating rooms. A nurse held her back as she tried to follow them behind the swinging doors, telling her that she couldn't go any further. She didn't realize that Sandy had taken the nurse's place until she found herself in the waiting room with Seth.

"It's going to be ok." Sandy held her. "Ryan will be fine."

A few minutes later, a doctor wearing some scrubs came out to them and had them sign some papers so they could get Ryan into surgery for the injuries that he sustained to his leg. Sandy quickly signed them in all the appropriate places and the doctor rushed back to his patient.

"How'd it go with the police?" Kirsten looked at Sandy.

"Summer and Luke gave them their statements. They're on their way to the Four Seasons to question Oliver."

A nurse from reception came and handed Sandy a stack of forms to fill out for Ryan, and Kirsten helped him with what little information she had about Ryan's medical history. Seth came back from the cafeteria with coffee for everyone, and joined his parents in waiting for word on Ryan. Kirsten held Sandy's hand tightly as the doors from outside burst open and Summer and Luke rushed in.

"Oh my god," Summer went to them. "Did you hear what happened with Oliver at the hotel?"

"My friend hasn't called me back yet." Sandy said. "What happened?"

"The cops cornered him in his room." Luke told them. "Marissa was there. He had a gun with him; held it to his head."

"He tried to kill himself?" Kirsten gasped.

"He didn't." Summer told them. "The hotel security got to him before he could do anything drastic."

"Does Marissa know about Ryan?" Seth asked.

"I called her; that's how I found out about Oliver. She'll probably be down here once the police finish questioning her."

A few hours later, they were all still in the waiting room as they tried to wait patiently to hear anything about Ryan. Marissa had shown up awhile ago and was sitting next to Summer; they both were farther away from the others. Sandy had started to pace as the doors finally opened and a doctor came out to them.

"Are you all here for Ryan Atwood?"

"I'm Sandy Cohen." He shook his hand. "This is my wife, Kirsten."

"I'm Dr. Graham. I'm in charge of your son's care."

"How is he?" Kirsten asked.

"Mr. Atwood has sustained multiple injuries. He has a couple of cracked ribs, lacerations to his face and he has a torn ACL. We'll talk more about his physical therapy once he wakes up. We were concerned that he would have a severe head trauma, but it looks like it's just a minor concussion. We'll run more tests when he wakes up."

"When do you think he'll be ready to get out of here?" Sandy asked as he received a sharp look from Kirsten. "We all know that's going to be the first question he asks us."

"Pending no major problems, I'd say a couple days."

"Can we see him?" Kirsten asked.

"Of course." He scanned the waiting room. "Just family for now."

Seth jumped up to follow his parents back to the patient rooms. The doctor led him down a long corridor and finally stopped in front of a door. They followed him in and saw a couple nurses finishing up getting Ryan settled.

"Oh god," Kirsten gasped as she saw the bruising spread all over the side of his face. His left leg was elevated by a couple pillows and they could see the dressing covering his torso through his hospital gown.

"He's been in and out since we brought him in here." One of the nurses told them. "He won't be fully awake until tomorrow sometime."

"We'll give you some time alone with him." Dr. Graham told them as the nurses finished covering Ryan with a light blanket and they followed the doctor out.

"Oh, sweetie." Kirsten took his hand and brushed his unruly bangs out of his face. "You're going to be ok."

"We're all right here, kid." Sandy ran his hand up and down his other arm.

"Wake up soon, Ryan." Seth added softly.

"Mmm." They heard come from the figure on the bed.

"Ryan, are you awake?" Kirsten asked as she saw his eyes slowly open.

"What-" he rasped out as he took in his surroundings.

"You're ok. You're at the hospital. There was an accident."

"Oliver," he mumbled sleepily.

"Don't worry about him now. He's been arrested."

"I'm sorry." His eyes closed again. "I should've never written that letter."

"It's ok, sweetie." Kirsten whispered as she looked at Sandy. "What are we going to do about this whole situation?"

"I'm not sure." Sandy told her.

"We're going to need to get some back up to help us get through to him." Kirsten sighed. "Maybe Nicole or the other counselors at the support group."

"Whatever it takes." Sandy assured her as they all continued to watch Ryan sleep off the medications that the doctors and nurses had given him.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? Will the Cohen's be able to get through to Ryan? What is Seth keeping from his parents? Will Ryan forgive Marissa and take her back? What will Sandy and Kirsten say to Ryan when he finally wakes up? Stay tuned to find out! PLZ R&R!

Also, there is one reviewer who keeps asking if I'm going to put Taylor in this story. I've said this before and I'll say it again, TAYLOR WILL NOT BE IN THIS STORY! This is a mostly Cohen+1 story. It's going to mostly focus on the Cohen's trying to fix their relationship with Ryan.

Lastly, I've come up with a new and unique storyline for another OC story. If you want to read a basic outline of the story, go to my livejournal page and read it. My username is bobbiejod1. If you're interested, check it out and leave me some feedback either on there or in your reviews. Just let me know.


	11. Ch 11: The Next Day

**AN: **I'm really on a role with this story! Third update within a week! I'm glad you all still like this story. I hope you enjoy this update. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 11:The Next Day**

Kirsten was the first to awaken the next morning. All three of them hadn't left the hospital since they all arrived the day before. They wanted to be there when Ryan awoke fully after all the medications finally wore off. They figured that if they weren't there and Ryan woke up alone, his fears would be confirmed; that they didn't really want him and that he was now a burden on them. And they wanted to prove to him that he belonged in their family; now and forever.

Kirsten looked over at Sandy as she heard movement and saw him slowly getting off the pull-out couch and stretching. He looked around and spotted her sitting in a chair by Ryan's bedside.

"Any change?" he asked her.

"Not yet." she sighed as he pulled another chair up beside her and sat down.

"All the medication should be wearing off soon." he informed her.

"And then we'll talk to him?" she looked at him.

"We should wait until we can talk to Nicole. I haven't called her yet."

"We'll wait a little bit." she agreed.

"He's most likely going to clam up no matter what you do." they looked over and saw Seth slowly standing. "Not awake yet?"

"Still sleeping." Kirsten told him. "And yes, we know that he's going to clam up."

"Hello. My name is Amy." the door opened and a nurse came into them. "How's the patient doing?"

"Still sleeping."

"He should be waking up soon." she assured them. "Dr. Graham has ordered some tests for later today."

"What kinds of tests?" Sandy asked.

"Just some x-rays and an MRI. Nothing too serious." she assured them as she made a couple notes on Ryan's chart. "I'll be back in a little while to check on him again."

"Thank you." they watched her leave and turned back to watching Ryan sleep again.

A little while later, Seth and Sandy left to get some coffee from the cafeteria while Kirsten stayed with Ryan in case he woke up. Kirsten started flipping through the magazines that were on the table as she heard movement on the bed. She looked up and smiled at the sight of Ryan struggling to sit himself up on the bed.

"Take it easy, sweetie." she took the control for the bed and raised his head up a little. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore." he admitted softly.

"I can imagine." she smiled at him sympathetically as she pressed the call button for the nurse. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Oliver hit me with his car." he stated.

"Well, I am glad that you weren't hurt any worse than you are." she smiled down at him as the door opened and Seth and Sandy came in with their coffees.

"Hey. Look who's awake." Sandy smiled at him. "It's good to have you back kid."

The door opened again and Dr. Graham came into the room followed by Amy as she pushed a small cart in front of her. Dr. Graham checked Ryan's vitals and checked on his IV.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Atwood?" Dr. Graham asked him.

"Tired. Sore." Ryan revealed.

"I don't want to give you any pain killers just yet. I'm going to wait until after we run some tests. Breakfast will be in soon. Try to eat something before the tests."

"Sure." Ryan responded as they both left, leaving him alone with the Cohen's.

"Ryan," Sandy started.

"Don't." Ryan cut him off.

"We need to talk about that letter."

"Fine. We can talk. Just not today." Ryan sighed.

"Ok. Not today." Kirsten gave Sandy a look. "But plan on talking about it tomorrow. There's no getting out of it."

"Fine." he sighed as the door opened and an orderly brought a tray in.

He placed it on the rolling table and pushed it up to Ryan's bed before leaving again. Kirsten adjusted the bed into a more upright position and uncovered the tray as she pushed it towards Ryan.

"Go ahead and eat." she told him. "You need to keep your strength up."

"Fine." he sighed as he picked up a dry piece of toast and nibbled on the corner.

"I really hope you plan on eating more than that." Sandy told him.

"I'm not hungry." he stated.

"Sandy, they have him on antibiotics." Kirsten told him. "They can curb your appetite."

"Right." Sandy sighed.

A little while later, some orderlies came in with a gurney to collect Ryan for his tests. The three Cohen's watched as they got Ryan transferred onto the gurney with as little pain for Ryan as possible. Once they took Ryan down for the tests, Kirsten stepped out to make a call to Nicole.

"Do you need me to do something?" Seth sighed as he looked over at his dad. "I do want to be here for Ryan, but this is boring."

"Actually, there is something that you can do." Sandy took a list out of his pocket. "Run home and get these things for Ryan and your mom. Ryan will be bored if he has nothing to do, and your mother won't leave his side until he's able to come home."

"Then she'll really start to hover." Seth stated.

"Exactly." Sandy smiled at him. "Bring some comic books or something for Ryan, and some magazines for your mom."

"Should I get Ryan's school bag as well?" Seth stood up. "He says he needs to finish catching up."

"Go ahead and grab that, too." Sandy handed him the keys to the car.

"Got it." Seth walked out of the room as Kirsten came back in.

"Where's Seth going?" she asked Sandy.

"I sent him home to pick up some essentials for both you and Ryan."

"Good idea because I'm not leaving him."

"That's what I figured." he smiled at her. "What'd Nicole say?"

"That the four of us need to have a meeting. I told her that we should wait a couple days."

"That's probably a good idea." he sighed.

A little while later, Sandy went to get them some more coffee from the cafeteria. He was walking through the waiting room to get back to Ryan's room when he heard someone call his name.

"Sanford," he turned around and saw his father-in-law.

"Cal," he responded coldly.

"I've been waiting for Kiki to come out so we could talk business."

"I wouldn't count on that happening anytime soon. She's barely left Ryan's side since he got out of surgery." Sandy left Caleb in the waiting room as he went back to Ryan's room.

He found Ryan settled back into bed as Kirsten fussed over him. He could tell that Ryan was getting frustrated with her, but he also knew that he wouldn't say a word.

"Hey. How'd the tests go, kid?" he asked him as he handed Kirsten her coffee.

"Fine." he grumbled.

"Honey, your father is in the waiting room." he told Kirsten. "He's under the impression that you're going to do business."

"I told him I'm taking some time off until Ryan gets out of here." she stated.

"Apparently, he didn't hear you."

"You don't have to take time off because of me." Ryan said softly.

"It's not because of you." Kirsten assured him. "Well, not just because of you."

"Where's Seth?" Ryan asked after awhile.

"He went to pick up some things at the house for you and Kirsten." Sandy told him. "He should be back soon."

"Ryan, I need to know something." Kirsten started.

"You said it could wait until tomorrow." he turned to her.

"Not that. I want to know if there is something else going on that you're not telling us."

"Like what?"

"I'm not really sure. I just have a feeling that you've been keeping something from us."

"Tell them, Ryan." the door burst open and Seth came in with all the items from home and dropped them onto a nearby chair.

"What?" Ryan looked over at him shocked.

"Tell them or I will." Seth stated.

"You promised."

"Well, sometimes you have to break a promise if you think it's best for the sake of someone's well-being."

"What's going on?" Sandy looked between them. "What are you talking about?"

"Not everyone is making it easy for Ryan at school." Seth admitted. "And I'm not just talking about the students."

"What?" Kirsten looked first at Seth, then Ryan. "The teachers have been harassing you?"

"It's no big deal." Ryan told her.

"I think it's a very big deal. Why didn't you come to us?"

"I can handle this myself." Ryan stated firmly.

"What did we tell you at Chrismukkah?" Sandy looked at Ryan. "That it's your job to be the kid, and that you need to let us be the parents. Which means that you need to come to us if you have any kind of problem."

"Have you tried going to Dr. Kim about this?" Kirsten saw the look that passed between Ryan and Seth. "What else it there?"

"Dr. Kim's the ring leader." Seth admitted finally. "On Ryan's very first day, she stopped him in the hall and said she'd be watching him. It was the way she said it that had me concerned, but Ryan told me not to worry about it."

"And what was your response when she did that?" Sandy looked at Ryan.

"I reminded her that you guys were probably one of the major contributors to the school. And that it would be a mistake to try anything." Ryan admitted finally.

"You know, that was a very good idea." Kirsten grabbed her purse.

"Where are you going?" Sandy asked her.

"To the school to have an emergency meeting." she glanced at Seth. "I assume that you're not the only witness to all these incidents. All your friends witnessed it too, right?"

"Yes. They all witnessed a few of the incidents."

"Call all your friends and have them meet us at Harbor then."

"Kirsten-" Ryan started, but she was already out the door.

"Kid, she's on a rampage right now. No one will be able to stop her." Sandy told him. "You just get some rest. We'll let you know what happens. We'll also be sure to tell the nurse that you're not to be disturbed."

"Ok." he said softly as they all left the room.

Caleb sat up in his chair as he saw Kirsten marching down the hall towards him with a vengeance.

"Dad, call your friends on the school board." She told him. "I want you to use every influence you have to get an emergency meeting right now."

"Kiki, what's going on?"

"If you value our relationship at all, you will do this with no questions." she told him firmly.

"All right. I'm calling." he took out his phone and started dialing as he followed her out of the hospital and Sandy and Seth rushed to catch up to them.

**AN: **So what'd you all think of this chapter? You finally know what Ryan was keeping from Sandy and Kirsten that I hinted at in the first couple of chapters. Next chapter will be a major confrontation at Harbor. The faster you all send me some reviews, the faster I can put out the next chapter for you. PLZ R&R!


	12. Ch 12: Confrontations

**AN: **Sorry for the delay with the update. Been a little busy. I'm getting more hours at work, and I'm trying to finish up my schooling. I'm also working on my new story ideas when I have the time. Anyway, I hope you all like how this chapter turned out! Read on! PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 12: Confrontations**

Seth met up with Luke, Summer, Anna, and Marissa in the hallway outside of Dr. Kim's office. Once Seth explained what was going on, they all agreed to speak to the school board on Ryan's behalf.

"H-How's Ryan?" Marissa finally asked.

"He's all right. He was trying to get some sleep when we were leaving." Seth told her. "He's not really up for visitors right now."

"Of course." she said hastily as they all saw Kirsten, Sandy, and Caleb coming down the hall with the head of the school board.

"I thought there was going to be a board meeting." Seth looked at his parents.

"I convinced your mother to try it this way first." Sandy told him.

"We're going to try a private meeting first." Kirsten told them all. "If this meeting doesn't go well, then we'll demand a board meeting."

"Dr. Kim will see you all now." the secretary came out of the office.

"Seth, you guys wait out here for a little bit." Sandy told him. "We'll come out to get you when we need you."

"All right." Seth nodded as he watched them all go into the office and he slumped against the wall and sat on the floor. "We're all in for a long wait, guys. My dad's a lawyer. He likes to talk."

"Seth?" Anna sat down beside him. "Is Ryan really not allowed any visitors?"

"No." he whispered to her. "I just didn't want Marissa to make a scene. I don't think he wants to see her."

"So can I stop by to see him later?"

"You'll have to ask my mom about that. She has become very overprotective of him since the accident."

"That's understandable." Anna sighed. "I wonder what's going on in there."

"I'm sure we'll hear it in a minute. You've never seen my mom going after someone who's gone after her family."

"Sounds like an awesome mom." she smiled over at him.

"Ryan doesn't seem to think so."

"I'll bet he does. He just doesn't want to admit how he really feels about all of you."

"Why not?"

"Maybe he thinks that if he admits how much he really needs you all, then it'll all disappear. I think he's afraid of that happening."

"You might be right. Those are very good insights."

"I pay attention." she smiled at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sandy followed behind his wife and the woman from the school board. He felt guilty for leaving Ryan at the hospital by himself, but the doctor had just given him another dose of pain killers so he would most likely sleep the entire time that they were gone. He took Kirsten's hand and gave it a squeeze to remind her to take it easy; at first. But if the woman pushed her buttons in any way, all bets were off. And he wouldn't try to stop Kirsten from the wrath that she would bring down on the woman.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen," Dr. Kim stood up to give them each a hand shake, but they refused. "What can I do for you?"

"We want answers." Kirsten stated.

"What-" Dr. Kim looked up in surprise as Caleb entered with their guest. "Ms. Warren, what brings you here?"

"There have been several accusations brought up against you and several members of your staff." Ms. Warren informed her. "I, for one, would like to get to the bottom of it and settle this as soon as possible."

"Yes, of course." Dr. Kim's smile suddenly faltered. "May I ask who filed these complaints?"

"We did." Sandy told her. "It has come to our attention that you haven't given Ryan a fair chance since he started here."

"If Mr. Atwood has any problems with me or my staff, he should've come to me."

"Ryan wouldn't say a negative word about anyone unless someone's life depended on it."

"Ryan is not the one who revealed the actions of the staff here." Kirsten informed the Dean. "It was our other son Seth."

"I haven't had any problems with Seth in the past-" Dr. Kim started.

"Seth would never lie about something like this." Kirsten cut her off, knowing where she was heading. "There are other witnesses to many incidents since the school year began."

"It's obvious we're not getting anywhere here," Ms. Warren spoke up. "I'm going to have the witnesses come in and give their statements. And while I'm at it, I'm going to have each of Ryan's teachers come down so I can interrogate them as well."

Ms. Warren stepped out of the room briefly and she returned with Seth and the others. Seth stood next to his parents as Dr. Kim looked even more nervous as they all filed in front of the desk.

"Seth, could you please tell us about the confrontations that Ryan has had with Dr. Kim?" Ms. Warren looked at him.

"I don't remember them all." Seth started. "But there was one that happened his first official day of classes. It was right before classes started. Dr. Kim noticed Ryan in the hall and she stopped him. I was maybe two feet away from them, but I could hear them both perfectly. She told Ryan that just because he had rich foster parents that could talk his way into the school, that she wasn't going to tolerate any fighting. And that any sign of trouble, he would be out of here."

"And what was Ryan's response?"

"He was speechless at first. Then he reminded her how much not only mom and dad have contributed to the school, but my grandpa as well. He said it'd be a shame if it suddenly stopped and the school didn't have enough funds to be able to continue adding onto the school and having all the dances and, in Ryan's words, all the other pointless school crap."

"And you've all been witness to at least one similar incident as well?" Ms. Warren looked at the others and they all nodded. "What about Mr. Atwood's teachers?"

"The history teacher," Luke spoke up. "I've heard him say to Ryan on several occasions that it was a huge mistake to mix cultures."

"There was an incident in pre-calc." Anna spoke up. "Ryan and I worked on one of the assignments together. We had the same answers for every problem. But when they were handed back, Ryan had a C-, and I had an A. When Ryan argued about it, he told Ryan that he needed to work harder."

"You and your staff had no right to treat him like this." Kirsten seethed as she moved closer to Dr. Kim's desk. "You agreed in that first meeting that Ryan deserved a fair chance, but you haven't given him one from the moment he walked through the doors."

"We want her terminated from her position." Sandy demanded. "She should not be put in charge of any student at this school."

"I assure you Mr. Cohen that she will be reprimanded with a punishment that she deserves." Ms. Warren told him. "I will need to pull up all of Mr. Atwood's old assignments to see where we go from here."

"Ryan kept all his old assignments, tests, and quizzes. I told him it would be easier that way to study for the end-of-year exams." Seth told them.

"Do you know where he keeps them?"

"Yeah. I can go them for you right now."

"I'll take him." Sandy looked at Kirsten. "You should get back to Ryan."

"I want a final decision about all of this by tonight." Kirsten told Ms. Warren.

"I understand, Mrs. Cohen." she told her. "I'm going to speak with all of Ryan's teachers and go from there."

"Not all of his teachers have treated him unfairly," Anna spoke up. "His English teacher, Mr. York, he's been encouraging Ryan all year. I'm pretty sure it's Ryan's favorite class."

"Thank you, Miss Stern. I will remember that."

"Let's get out of here before I do something that I regret later." Kirsten stated as she glared at Dr. Kim once more before following everyone out of the office.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kirsten arrived at the hospital again and quietly walked into Ryan's room. He was fast asleep once again so she silently sat down in the chair by his bed and started reading one of the magazines that Seth had brought for her. After awhile, she heard a noise and saw Ryan slowly coming awake. He turned his head and looked over at her.

"Hey. How are you feeling? Any better?" Kirsten put down her magazine and moved closer to the bed.

"Maybe a little." he sat up a little more. "How'd the meeting go?"

"They're going to make a decision about Dr. Kim's future at the school by the end of the day."

"Where's Seth and Sandy?"

"They went home to get all your past assignments to take to the school. We don't think your teachers have given you a fair chance."

"I'm not worth all this trouble." Ryan mumbled.

"Yes, you are." she stated firmly. "I know that you haven't heard it much in your life up until this point, but you are."

"Hey. You're awake." the door opened and Nurse Amy came in with a tray of food. "Why don't we try and see how much you can eat this time."

Ryan sighed as he slowly sat up and Kirsten took the cover off and handed him the spoon as Amy left them alone again.

"Nothing too heavy." Kirsten told him. "Just some chicken broth, pudding, and some jello."

"It doesn't look very appetizing." Ryan mumbled.

"Try a little bit at least." Kirsten encourage and he slowly started eating as Kirsten started telling him about a new project that she had started at work.

"Hey, kid." Sandy returned with Seth a little while later. "Are you up for any visitors? There's someone out here who wants to talk to you."

"It depends who it is." Ryan mumbled as he glanced at Kirsten.

"It's not Marissa." Sandy assured him. "It's Ms. Warren from the school board."

"Has she made a final decision?" Kirsten put her magazine down.

"Yes she has. She wanted to tell us all together." Sandy explained to them. "So should I let her in?"

"Yes. Of course. Let her in." Kirsten looked at Ryan as he sat up a little more.

Ryan was more than a little apprehensive as he watched Ms. Warren come into his room. She placed a big folder down on the moving table and he knew that it was his file.

"Well Ryan, first of all, on behalf of the entire school board, I would like to say how deeply sorry for what all you have had to endure since the beginning of the school year." she looked at him sincerely.

"And?" he looked back at her.

"And we have reviewed every one of your old homework assignments, tests, and quizzes. Though we aren't able to re-grade them all, we have come to the unanimous decision that your grade average has been changed to a B average in every class. Except for your English Composition class. You've held an A+ average in that class since your first day."

"And what's going to happen to Dr. Kim?" Kirsten asked.

"She has been fired with no chance of returning to her post. Until we can find a reliable replacement, I will be taking over her post."

"And the rest of Ryan's teachers?" Sandy asked.

"With the exception of Mr. York, they have all been put on a 90-day probation period. Any complaints against them at all, and they'll be following in Dr. Kim's footsteps."

"Well, I'd say that's a step in the right direction." Kirsten agreed. "But what about Ryan now? Obviously he won't be able to go back to school for a couple weeks at least, but I know that he wants to keep up with his school work."

"Yes." Ms. Warren took out some papers and handed them to Sandy. "I have set up a school website for Ryan where he can submit his assignments and take the tests and quizzes online."

"This is very generous of you." Sandy looked through all the papers.

"It's the least we could do after everything that Ryan's been through since the beginning of the school year."

"What about Ryan's meeting with the school board?" Kirsten asked. "Given the circumstances with Oliver-"

"All the charges against him have been dropped." Ms. Warren assured them all.

"Thank you." Sandy glanced at Ryan and saw that he had his arms crossed in front of him. "Ryan, do you have any questions for Ms. Warren?"

"What else is there?" Ryan eyed them all wearily.

"What do you mean by that, Mr. Atwood?" Ms. Warren looked at him, concerned.

"He's waiting for the bad news." Seth spoke up. "He's not used to something good happening to him."

"I can assure you, Mr. Atwood, that there is no bad news coming from me. But I would like you to come to me in the future if anything like this happens again."

"I'll try." Ryan said softly.

"Ok. I believe that's all." Ms. Warren gathered up all her things. "If there are any problems in the future, I hope that you'll please contact me."

"We will. Thank you." Sandy walked her to the door and turned back around and looked at Ryan. "Well that's good news, right?"

"Sure." Ryan mumbled as he glanced over at Seth. "Did you talk to anyone today?"

"Anna asked how you were. She said she was going to stop by later if it was all right. Marissa asked about you too, but I told her you didn't want any visitors. I figured you didn't want to see her."

"No." he firmly shook his head. "I don't want her anywhere near here."

"Then we'll let the doctor and nurses know." Kirsten told him. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to."

"You don't have to see anyone you don't want to, kid." Sandy added. "Except for the doctors and nurses of course."

"Thank you." Ryan said softly as he tried to hide a yawn. "I think I'm getting tired again. Is it ok if I go back to sleep?"

"Of course. We''ll go down to the cafeteria for a little bit." Kirsten told him.

"We'll be right back, kid." Sandy assured him. "If you need us, have one of the nurses page us ok?"

"All right." Ryan told them softly as he drifted of to sleep and the three of them left his room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

Sandy and Kirsten sat at a table in the cafeteria discussing what they would do for Ryan as Seth sat silently for once as he slowly drank some coffee. Kirsten's cell phone started to ring and she sighed as she started to dig around for it in her purse.

"If this is my father wanting to talk business again, I swear-" she found her phone and glanced at the caller ID. "It's Nicole returning our call."

"Seth-" Sandy glanced at him.

"I got it." Seth started to stand. "I'll go see if Ryan is awake yet."

"Thanks, son." Sandy watched him leave the cafeteria and turned his attention back to Kirsten's phone conversation.

"Thank you so much for getting back to us so quickly." Kirsten was saying. "We really need your help with Ryan."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

Seth stepped off the elevator and slowly walked down the hall back towards Ryan's room. He heard some raised voices as he started to open the door.

"What are you doing in here?" Seth zeroed in on one specific person in the group of people that were gathered around Ryan's bed.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? I hope you liked it. PLZ R&R!

I hope everyone who celebrates it has a good Halloween with the parties and taking your little ones Trick-Or-Treating.


	13. Ch 13: Time To Talk

**AN: **I am soooooooo sorry everyone. I had a huge writer's block with this story, plus I was trying to keep up with my schooling and trying to write my stories for the Friends board. If interested, go check them out. Hope you all enjoy this chapter. I'll try to update regularly, but I'm not making any promises because of my hectic life. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 13: Time To Talk**

Ryan was almost asleep when he heard a soft knock at the door. He turned his head in time to see the door slowly opening and a head peaking inside the room.

"Anna?" he looked at her surprised as she came into the room. "Seth said he talked to you today. I just didn't think that you would actually come see me."

"What kind of friend would I be to you if I didn't visit you while you were bed-ridden?" she stood beside his bed. "So how are you?"

"Miserable." he mumbled. "I hate hospitals. I want out of here."

"Seth says you'll be out in a couple of days."

"Just so I can be bed-ridden at the Cohen's."

"They're only hovering so much because they care about you."

"Sometimes I wish they'd care less."

"You'd miss it more if it all went away suddenly."

"I'd like to find out." he mumbled as the door opened again and Luke came in.

"Hey, man. How are you doing?"

"I'm all right."

"Summer's on her way. She's trying to get rid of an unwanted guest."

"Who-" the door opened yet again and Summer came in; followed by Marissa.

"I'm sorry, Ryan." Summer apologized to him. "She found out where we were all coming and she followed us."

"What are you doing here, Marissa?" Ryan glared at her.

"I just wanted to see you. To make sure that you're ok."

"I'm fine, no thanks to you and your psycho boyfriend."

"Oliver wasn't my boyfriend."

"Well, neither am I anymore. I don't want you in here."

"Ryan-"

"Did you not hear me at the Crab Shack? It's over. I never want to see you again. And I don't want you here."

"What are you doing in here?" Seth entered the room. "Ryan doesn't want to see you, Marissa."

"I-"

"I thought you guys were going to talk to security." Ryan looked at Seth.

"Mom and dad were going to after they got some coffee from the cafeteria."

"I'll go get security." Anna rushed out of the room.

"You would really have them escort me out?" Marissa looked at Ryan. "After everything that we've been through?"

"Apparently that wasn't enough to stop you from running to Oliver." Ryan told her. "Just get out of here and leave me alone."

"Fine. Come on, Sum."

"I'm staying." Summer told her. "I'm sorry Marissa, but I agree with Ryan. If you were as devoted to Ryan as you said you were, you wouldn't have run off to that psycho every time there was a little bit of trouble."

"We've been friends forever."

"I'll continue to be your friend, but I'm also Ryan's friend. And right now, I'm hanging out with him."

"Fine." Marissa stormed out of the room and a few minutes later, Anna came back in to them.

"Sandy and Kirsten are talking to the security right now." she told them. "We only have about another hour before they're going to kick us out for the night."

* * *

><p>Sandy was watching Kirsten talk to Nicole on the phone as he tried to decipher what Nicole was saying in response to what Kirsten was telling her.<p>

"Yes, we need immediate action. We need to get everything out in the open so that we can deal with them once and for all. Tomorrow morning is fine. Seth will be in school whether he likes it or not, so we can spend that time talking with you and Ryan. Yes, thank you. We'll see you then." Kirsten hung up her phone and smiled at Sandy.

"Well?" he asked her.

"She'll be here tomorrow morning at ten. She wants to take a look at that letter that Ryan wrote to us."

"I'll stop by the house after I drop Seth off at school and get it."

"What's going on down there?" Kirsten looked down the hall and saw Anna talking to the hospital security. "Something must've happened while we were gone."

"Anna?" Sandy approached her. "Is everything all right?"

"Not really." she told them. "Marissa showed up in Ryan's room, and he's becoming very agitated."

"I'll talk to security." Kirsten walked away.

"Who else is in Ryan's room?" Sandy asked Anna.

"Luke, Summer, and Seth of course. He seemed to be enjoying himself until Marissa showed up."

"I'm going to go talk to security with Kirsten. After Marissa leaves, I'll give you guys another hour to hang out. After that, you'll have to leave. Ryan still needs his rest."

"Thanks." Anna smiled at him as they watched Marissa come out of Ryan's room and storm past them. "I guess Ryan got into it with her. I'll go see how he's doing."

Kirsten came back to Sandy and they both sat down in the waiting room chairs as they finished their coffees. They were getting ready to head back to Ryan's room when they saw someone come into the hospital that they didn't want to deal with at that moment.

"Sandy, Kirsten," Julie Cooper approached them. "How's Ryan doing?"

"Like you care." Kirsten narrowed her eyes at her. "Why are you here, Julie?"

"Well, Marissa came home really upset."

"I'm sure she did." Sandy stated.

"I don't like to see my daughter upset, so I was just hoping that you could talk to Ryan-"

"I don't think so." Kirsten cut her off.

"Excuse me?" Julie was taken aback.

"I'm not letting your train wreck of a daughter anywhere near my son."

"Train wreck?"

"Ever since he met her, she's done nothing except try to bring him down with her. She's not allowed near him. And neither are you. If you so much as look at him wrong, I'm filing charges. Do you understand?"

"Uh, we're going now." Anna approached them with Luke and Summer. "They just brought in Ryan's supper tray."

"Thank you for visiting him, you guys." Sandy told them. "Feel free to come back and see him again."

"Thank you." They all walked past them and walked out of the hospital.

"Kirsten," Julie started. "We've been friends for years."

"Friends? Friends don't talk about each other behind their backs. And they don't threaten to send their kids to jail. So don't come near Ryan again."

Kirsten walked away and Sandy rushed to catch up to her. They walked into Ryan's room and found him slowly eating his dinner as Seth sat nearby in a chair reading a comic book.

"Hey. Did you have fun hanging out with your friends, Ryan?" Kirsten asked him.

"Sure." He mumbled as Seth glanced up at them and shrugged.

"So here's the game plan," Sandy started. "Kirsten will be staying the night while Seth and I go back home for the night. Then tomorrow after I drop Seth off at school, you will have a meeting with Nicole."

"Why can't I miss another day of school?" Seth asked.

"You've missed enough already." Kirsten told him. "You're going to school tomorrow so you don't fall too far behind."

"I don't want to see Nicole." Ryan stated.

"Well it's high time that we talk about certain things." Sandy told him. "We need to start to settle some things so that we can live together peacefully again."

"Fine," Ryan grumbled.

A couple hours later, Sandy left with Seth promising to come back first thing in the morning. The nurse came in not long after they left with Ryan's meds and he fell asleep not long after. Kirsten got settled on the pull-out couch and eventually fell asleep.

The next morning they were woken up by the sound of Ryan's breakfast tray arriving. Ryan sat up blurry-eyed as Kirsten got off the couch.

"Why don't you start eating and I'll go down and get some coffee and wait for Sandy to arrive." Ryan nodded as he slowly started to eat and she left the room.

Kirsten was walking back down the hall towards Ryan's room when she spotted Sandy stepping off the elevator with Nicole. She was reading a set of papers that looked like the letter that Ryan wrote.

"You weren't kidding about this," she looked at them both. "This is very intense."

"You can see why we need to take immediate action on this," Sandy told her.

"Yes," they all sat down in a private area in the waiting room. "So what brought this on? I didn't expect him to write this at all."

"It started with Family Night," Kirsten started to tell her about the night before Ryan's accident.

"All right. I agree with your son Seth. You were a little pushy with all the togetherness."

"Yeah, we realize this now."

"Let's go into his room together, and we'll see how far we can get with him." They all stood up and started down the hall towards Ryan's room.

* * *

><p>Ryan lay back on the bed again as the orderly left with his breakfast tray. He really hated hospital food; he wanted out of here so that he could have actual food again. The door opened again and Ryan saw Sandy and Kirsten come in, followed by Nicole. He sighed as he turned his head away from them.<p>

"Hello Ryan," Nicole started. "I see you've had a rough couple of days."

"I know why you're here, so you can just cut the small talk." Ryan stated.

"Ryan," Sandy warned. "You're on a very thin line right now."

"I have nothing left to lose since you've taken everything away from me anyway," he glared at him. "Besides, there's no repercussions from these sessions remember?"

"All right Ryan," Nicole interrupted them. "Why don't we go through this letter a little bit at a time and we'll try to resolve a few issues."

"Fine," Ryan sighed.

"Ok. Right off the bat you say that you don't like them."

"Yeah."

"That they don't treat you like a member of the family because you're still in the pool house."

"So?"

"So what did you mean by that?" Ryan remained silent. "Come on, Ryan. If you ever want to get past all this, you need to start talking."

"That's where they put me when I first came." Ryan said softly.

"What?"

"When Sandy brought me home after my mom kicked me out. I was just the delinquent that Kirsten needed to protect Seth from."

"Kirsten, you're up." Nicole looked at her.

"I may have felt that way when you first came," Kirsten tried to take his hand, but he pulled away. "But I don't feel that way now. None of us do."

"Then why-"

"We thought that you liked it out there. That you liked your space when it was all just too much for you; whenever Seth was getting on your nerves."

"Seth will always get on my nerves; as will both of you with your need to suffocate me with all your family togetherness, but I can just as easily get away from you if I had a room inside the house. But you never offered."

"So why didn't you tell us this before?" Sandy asked.

"What right did I have to start demanding things from you?" Ryan finally turned to look at them. "I'm not your real kid. I'm just the delinquent foster kid that you took in."

"You have just as much right to ask for things as Seth does. More so actually since Seth has been demanding things since he could talk."

"You can all talk about this more later on," Nicole spoke up. "Let's move on to the next issue. You said they listen to you, but they don't hear you."

"It's true. They're too busy with their jobs to care. Or they just brushed it off as jealousy. I don't do jealousy."

"Everyone gets jealous, Ryan." Sandy told him.

"I wasn't jealous. I was mad. Mad that you would take someone else's word over mine. The kid you claimed to care about as your own. And when everything happened at school, you took everything away from me. Everything that you claimed no one would take away from me."

"We know now that was the wrong way to go." Sandy told him. "I'm sorry if that made you think that being part of this family came with a price."

"Whatever,"

"Ok. How about the next thing you mentioned?" Nicole moved them along. "You said they never defend you to other people. Who are Caleb and Julie?"

"Julie is Marissa's mother." Ryan told her. "I don't have to deal with her anymore since I've ended it with her daughter."

"And Caleb is my father." Kirsten said. "He hasn't liked Ryan since he met him."

"He thinks I'm after their money." Ryan said. "He wants them to send me back."

"We would never do that to you."

"Only because you don't know where my mother is."

"Even if we found her, we would fight tooth and nail to keep you with us."

"You'll excuse me if I don't believe you." Ryan mumbled as he turned his head away from them again. "I'm done talking. You can leave now."

"Ryan-"

"I think he's on overload for the day." Sandy told her. "We'll leave you alone so you can rest."

The three of them got up and left the room as Ryan took out the IPod that Seth had brought to keep him entertained. Sandy and Kirsten followed Nicole into a private room and they all sat at a table.

"He talked more than I expected him to." Nicole told them. "This was a big breakthrough for him, but you have been approaching this all wrong."

"So what do you suggest?" Kirsten asked.

"Start out slow. Each of you spend an hour with him on a one-on-one basis. The first half hour take him someplace that's special to you, the last half hour go somewhere that he wants to go."

"I think that might be good." Sandy stated.

* * *

><p>Seth arrived at the hospital as soon as school let out. He walked down the hall towards Ryan's room as he saw his parents deep in conversation. Sandy spotted him and inclined his head towards Ryan's room so he kept walking. He went into his room and saw him sitting up and reading one of the books required for English class.<p>

"Hey, man." He greeted him as he placed his messenger bag on the nearby chair and opened it up. "I collected your homework for you."

"Thanks." Ryan put the book down. "How was school?"

"You're asking me about school? How bored are you?"

"I'm going stir-crazy here." Ryan sighed as he lay his head back on the pillows behind him. "I can't wait until I can get out of here."

"Do you know when that will be?"

"Dr. Graham said maybe a couple days." Ryan sighed.

"So how'd it go with Nicole today?" Seth ventured.

"It went." Ryan shrugged. "Sandy and Kirsten have left me alone since."

"So is that good or bad?"

"Don't know," Ryan mumbled as the door opened and Sandy and Kirsten came in and took seats near the bed.

"Ryan, you don't have to do all your make-up work in one day." Sandy told him.

"I don't want to fall farther behind than I already am." He told them.

"That's fine, just don't do it all at once." Kirsten told him.

"Fine." Ryan put his book in the bag that was on the nearby chair.

"So Dr. Graham just talked to us." Sandy told Ryan. "After supper, your physical therapist is going to come. He wants to see how your leg is since it's been a few days. He wants you to try to make a lap around this hall."

"Great." Ryan mumbled as Seth remained quiet for a change.

Ryan was silent for the next few hours as Kirsten and Sandy tried to engage both him and Seth into a conversation. Ryan ate all his supper when it was brought in and mindlessly watched TV with Seth as Sandy and Kirsten left the room for a bit.

"Ok Ryan," Sandy came in with some sweats and a t-shirt. "Your physical therapist will be here in a little bit. I brought these for you from home."

"Ok," Ryan slowly started to climb off the bed as Sandy rushed to help him.

"I know you hate me right now." Sandy took a firm hold on his right arm. "But you're going to need help with this. So you're just going to have to suck it up and accept it."

"I know." Ryan looked at him as they slowly made their way across the room to the bathroom so Ryan could change. "For the record, I don't hate either of you. I'm just disappointed."

Ryan left Sandy speechless as he went into the bathroom with the change of clothes. Sandy tried to wait patiently as he mulled over what Ryan had just told him. The bathroom door opened as the door to the room opened and a muscular guy came in.

"Hello. I'm Mark, Ryan's physical therapist."

"Sandy Cohen, nice to meet you." He shook his hand.

"Are you ready, Ryan?" Mark saw him bracing himself back on the wall behind him.

"Yes." Ryan answered.

"Are the parents coming along or is this a solo trip?"

"Solo." Ryan stated firmly when he saw that Kirsten wanted to speak up from her spot by the bed with Seth.

"That's fine. It should be no more than fifteen minutes. You ready, Ryan?"

"Definitely." Ryan leaned forward off the wall as Mark steadied him and helped him out of the room.

**AN: **So what'd you think? Hope you all liked it. PLZ R&R!


	14. Ch 14: Home Sweet Home

**AN: **I know it's been awhile since my last update for this, but I hope you like this chapter. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 14: Home Sweet Home**

Ryan awoke one morning and looked around at the same hospital room that he had been in for the past week. Today was different, though. Today was the day that everyone had been anxiously waiting for. Today Ryan was coming home. They weren't exactly sure what it would mean when he arrived back at the Cohen house, but they were all getting ready for his homecoming.

Sandy walked into the room as Ryan was attempting to climb out of bed. He knew how anxious he was to get out of this place; he didn't really blame him.

"Hang on, kid." He rushed over to help him.

"I can walk the few feet to the bathroom." Ryan grumbled.

"What have we been telling you? You need to put your pride aside and ask for help. No matter how you feel about us right now."

"Mark told me that I can walk a few feet unassisted."

"That's fine, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to hover."

"Whatever," Ryan took his change of clothes from him and hobbled to the bathroom as Sandy followed very closely.

Sandy started packing up all of Ryan's belongings while he was in the bathroom. It hadn't gotten much better these past few days between Ryan and Sandy and Kirsten. He was more open with Seth, which they took advantage of. Ryan would still have to come back to the hospital twice a week for his physical therapy, but he was put on bed rest; only allowed to get up for ten minutes at a time, until Mark told him otherwise. He also had to wear a leg brace except for when he was in the shower or doing his therapy.

The bathroom door opened and Ryan shuffled out as Sandy rushed over to assist him back to the bed. He slowly sat down and glared over at him as they lapsed into silence. The door finally opened and Dr. Graham came in and smiled at him.

"Looks like someone is ready to go." He smiled at them.

"Definitely," Ryan stated.

"Well everything looks good, so I'll sign off on your release. Just remember to keep that brace on as much as possible."

"Got it." Ryan got off the bed and reached for the crutches. "Can we go now?"

"Don't I need to take him out in a wheelchair?" Sandy looked at the doctor.

"I think it should be fine. Just watch him until you get out to the car."

"All right. Come on, kid." Sandy grabbed his bag and they started out of the room and towards the elevators.

* * *

><p>The car ride home was awkward to say the least. Ryan sat in the front passenger seat just staring out the window. Sandy was trying to drive as he kept glancing over at Ryan and attempting to start a conversation with him.<p>

"I bet it feels good to be out of the hospital finally." Sandy broke the silence.

"Mmm." Ryan responded.

"Well, Kirsten is getting the house ready for your return. And Seth is getting all of his video games out. So the rest of your day is all planned out for you."

"I just wanted to lay down."

"I don't think you'll have time for that. Besides, that's all you did in the hospital."

"Why can't I go to bed?" Ryan looked at him as they pulled up the Cohen's slanted driveway. "Why are all these cars here?"

"Kirsten called everyone-"

"She planned a party?"

"It's a small one, with just your friends. Besides, it's what she does." Sandy turned off the car and went around to Ryan's side of the car. "Come on. You can suffer through it. All your friends are waiting for you inside."

"One hour. That's all that I'm promising."

"Good luck with that." Sandy told him as they walked into the house.

Ryan struggled with the crutches as Sandy held the door open for him to walk through by himself. Ryan made to go towards the stairs, but Sandy firmly took hold of his arm and steered him towards the kitchen.

"You promised an hour." Sandy told him as Kirsten came out to greet them.

"Hey. I'm glad you're finally home." She smiled at Ryan. "Your friends are in the den with Seth. Why don't you go join them and I'll bring you something to eat."

"Fine." He started into the den and spotted Luke and Seth on the floor in front of the TV battling each other, while Anna and Summer sat on the couch. "Hey."

"Dude, you're finally home." Seth dropped his controller, giving Luke the opportunity to gain control of their game.

"Here," Anna got up from her spot and helped Ryan sit on the couch.

Summer got up and placed a couple pillows under Ryan's knee to elevate it as Sandy and Kirsten came in with plates of snacks for everyone. Kirsten had a plate with a sandwich and some chips and a can of iced tea and offered it to Ryan.

"Some nutritious, non-hospital food." She smiled at him. "You need to eat."

Ryan wordlessly took it from her and started eating. They both left again and Anna sat in the chair beside the couch that was near Ryan. Seth and Luke resumed their video game as Summer opened up a magazine to keep her occupied.

"So how's it going?" Anna looked at Ryan. "I bet it feels great to be out of the hospital finally."

"For the most part." He spotted Sandy and Kirsten glancing into where they all were as they talked quietly at the kitchen counter.

"I told you, you'd miss it if you didn't have it."

"Right," he put his plate on the coffee table and lay back as he watched Seth and Luke continue their game.

* * *

><p>Luke, Summer, and Anna left a few hours later. Ryan remained on the couch as Seth continued playing video games. Sandy went to pick up their supper as Kirsten got Ryan's medication for him. He swallowed them down and started up off the couch.<p>

"Stay where you are." Kirsten stopped him. "We're going to eat in here once Sandy gets here with supper."

"Fine." He relaxed against the cushions again as he heard the door open.

"I got us some Chinese." Sandy's booming voice echoed into the den.

Ryan sighed as he watched Sandy bring in all the bags of takeout and he handed one of the cartons to him, along with a pair of chopsticks. He slowly opened it and started eating as the three Cohen's joined him in front of the TV.

"It's good to have you home finally." Kirsten smiled at him.

"Thanks." He mumbled.

"So what should we do these next few weeks?" Sandy asked. "Would you like to do anything, Ryan?"

"I'm not supposed to do anything." He mumbled.

"You can do some things." Kirsten told him. "We can go places where you don't have to move around so much."

"I'll do whatever you want me to do." Ryan mumbled.

"Well we'd like to do what you want to do as well." Sandy told him.

"I don't want to do anything." He stated.

They all continued to eat in awkward silence with Ryan brooding as he slowly ate out of the carton in his lap. After they cleared all the cartons when they were all done eating, they all settled in around the TV to watch a movie. Ryan faced the back of the couch and closed his eyes to block it all out.

"Ryan, if you're tired we can get you upstairs." Kirsten told him.

"I thought I was being forced to spend time with you." He mumbled.

"What makes you think that?"

"Every time I attempt to get up, one of you stops me and tells me to stay put."

"He's right." Seth spoke up.

"We can help you up to your room." Sandy told him.

"I have crutches." Ryan sat up and grabbed them as Sandy attempted to help.

"You can use them. We'll just follow you up to make sure that you don't have any kind of accident."

"Fine." Ryan walked up the stairs with Sandy and Kirsten hovering nearby the whole time. "I'm fine. You can go now."

"We'll be back in a while with your next batch of pain killers." They left his room and Ryan got changed into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and climbed into bed.

* * *

><p>Kirsten walked into her bedroom after giving Ryan his pain killers for the night. Sandy was already in bed waiting for her to come in.<p>

"How'd it go?" he asked her as she got ready for bed.

"He didn't say a word to me. Just took his pills and fell back asleep." She sighed as she climbed into bed beside him. "I'm getting tired of all this. I thought that after we all talked with Nicole, it would start the ball rolling."

"One step at a time." Sandy wrapped his arms around her. "Hopefully, tomorrow we'll be able to start breaking down those walls of his."

"You know it's not going to be easy." She looked up at him. "He's going to fight us with everything he has."

"Can't wait." He smiled at her as they turned out the light.

* * *

><p>Ryan turned over in bed when he heard a knock on his door. He started to sit up as Kirsten came in and smiled at him as she placed a tray of eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee over his lap.<p>

"Good morning." She smiled at him.

"Morning," he mumbled.

"Seth has already left for school." She informed him. "Sandy made breakfast. He's going to take you to rehab in a little while. So you should eat up and get ready."

"I don't think I'll be able to eat all this."

"Just eat what you can." She smiled at him. "If you need anything, just call."

"Got it." He watched her leave as he slowly started eating.

* * *

><p>Ryan slowly walked out of the rehabilitation room after his grueling session. Sandy was waiting for him in a chair just outside the door and stood up as he hobbled towards him on his crutches.<p>

"Hey, kid. How'd it go?" he started to follow him out to the parking lot.

"Fine. Mark said I'm doing better than he expected."

"That's good news." Sandy helped him into the passenger side of the range rover. "What do you say that we pick up some lunch to take home to Kirsten?"

"Sure." Ryan shrugged.

They reached the house and Kirsten met them in the kitchen as she got some plates out. She smiled at them as she greeted Ryan.

"How was rehab?"

"Fine." He sighed.

"Come on and sit down." She started to help him to the table.

"Can I just eat upstairs? Please? I'm tired."

"Sure, kid." Sandy smiled at him. "We'll help you up."

"Uh, Ryan." Kirsten started. "There are a few additions to your room."

"Like what?" he looked at her.

"Why don't I go show you?" she followed them up and rushed ahead of Ryan as she opened the door.

"What is all this?" he looked at all the new additions to the room.

The bed was bigger in size with new bedding. There were bookshelves with books lining them and a desk with a desktop computer. In the center of the room against the one wall was a big screen TV with a media center full of DVDs and an XBOX with games.

"We thought you deserved some amenities if you're going to be stuck in here for the next several weeks." Kirsten told him.

"And we wanted you to know that we hope you'll make this your permanent place in the house." Sandy added.

"I'll think about it." Ryan sat down on the bed as Sandy distributed the food.

"Why don't we all eat up here together?" Sandy suggested. "Is that all right with you, Ryan?"

"Fine." He rested back against the pillows as Sandy distributed the food.

"What are we having?" Kirsten sat beside Ryan on the bed and Sandy sat at the end of the bed.

"Ryan wanted a burger from the diner, but I got you a garden salad with a deli sandwich." Sandy handed her a bag.

Ryan slowly ate his lunch as he listened to Sandy and Kirsten's banter. Ryan glanced around at everything that Kirsten had gotten for him while he was gone that day. Truthfully he liked that they wanted to make him feel more at home in the house, but he wasn't ready to let his guard down. Not yet.

* * *

><p>After they were all done eating lunch, Sandy and Kirsten left Ryan alone so that he could rest some more. Seth got home from school and immediately went to see Ryan.<p>

"Wow." He looked around. "Mom really went all out for you."

"Yeah." Ryan mumbled as he looked up from doing some of his makeup work for school. "It's all great. It's just-too much. It's like she's trying to impress me or something."

"Nah, that's not her at all." Seth sat on the computer chair. "Besides, this is nothing. You should see what she does when you're sick. She likes to shop."

"So anything interesting happen at school?" Randy closed his Calculus textbook.

"Not really. Same old, same old." He told him. "But Anna wanted me to tell you that if you needed any help catching up with all the work, she can come over and help you."

"I might need her help." Ryan agreed. "I have a lot to catch up on."

"So are you and Anna-" Seth started.

"No." Ryan said quickly. "But-"

"What?"

"I think I might be starting to like her." Ryan revealed. "And I wanted to know how you would feel if I asked her out."

"Why?"

"I know she's not your girlfriend anymore, but she is your ex. I just thought-"

"Dude, I have Summer now. We made it official. You and Anna have the right to do whatever you want to do. So just go for it if you want to."

"Thanks, man." Ryan smiled at him.

"Hey, fellas." Sandy came in after briefly knocking. "We all need to be downstairs right now."

"Why?" Seth looked at him.

"We called Nicole." He looked at Ryan. "She agreed to come over for a family session tonight."

"What?" Ryan stared back at him.

"We need this." Sandy stated. "We all need to talk to Nicole. So why don't you guys get cleaned up and meet us down in the living room in ten minutes."

Sandy left and Ryan sighed deeply. Seth gave him a sympathetic look as he left the room and Ryan went into the bathroom to change.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? I believe that this story is almost completed. Just a few more chapters. PLZ R&R!


	15. Ch 15: Laying It All Out

**AN: **Second update in the same week. Hope you enjoy this chapter. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 15: Laying It All Out**

Ryan slowly made his way downstairs and saw that the other three were waiting for him, along with Nicole.

"Hey, kid." Sandy got up to assist him. "I was just coming up to see if you needed any help."

"I just needed a few minutes for myself." He stated as he took the seat next to Seth. "Let's just get this over with."

"It's good to see you out of that hospital room." Nicole smiled at Ryan.

"Thanks." He mumbled.

"So how's it been since you've been home?"

"Fine."

"Can I have more information than that?" Ryan remained silent. "You need to start expressing yourself, Ryan."

"They're hovering." He finally revealed.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't have more than five minutes to myself without them coming in to check on me. I like my alone time."

"Understandable." Nicole glanced over at Sandy and Kirsten, who were perched on the couch.

"He's still on pain killers." Kirsten told her. "It's necessary for us to check on him because he doesn't tell us if he's in pain or if he's sick."

"Ryan if they promise to give you a little more space, can you promise to tell them if you're not feeling well?" Nicole looked at him.

"I can try." Ryan said softly.

"Good. That's a start." Nicole smiled. "Now I want to spend this session getting to the heart of your problems. So whoever wants to start."

"I'm not sure where to start," Sandy said. "I thought things were going well. We were getting along and spending time together again. Then Oliver came along and it brought a lot of things out in the open."

"Things were going well," Ryan responded. "It's just…"

"It's just what?" Kirsten asked.

"You never asked me if I wanted any of this." Ryan looked at them. "The day that you guys told me that you wanted to be my guardians, you told me that I had to do cotillion."

"It's a family tradition. We already thought of you as family at that point."

"But aren't you supposed to ask if I want to do something? Then we're supposed to discuss it and decide what to do from there."

"Some things are mandatory when it comes to family." Sandy told him.

"And what about Harbor? I never asked to go to a private school. Everyone there hated me; Dr. Kim especially."

"You should've come to us when everything started with the staff."

"I know that now, but I didn't like the school. Why did you have to send me there?"

"Because it will give you the opportunity to get into an Ivy League school once you graduate."

"Who says that I'm going to college?" Ryan looked at them. "Just graduating from high school would be an accomplishment for me."

"Going to college is expected." Kirsten told him.

"This is all too much." Ryan said softly. "It's like I'm living under a microscope. My mom never cared what I was doing, but here you have to know what I'm doing at all times."

"That's how families are supposed to work." Sandy told him. "I'm sorry that you've never had that before, but that's how it is."

"It made me feel like you didn't trust me." Ryan revealed.

"What?"

"You never asked Seth what he was doing when he left the house, but I always had to tell you where I was going. Like you thought I was going to knock over a store or something."

"Oh god," Kirsten gasped. "We had no idea that we made you feel like that."

"Well you did. Everything with Oliver just heightened everything. And you haven't-"

"We haven't what?"

"Nothing," Ryan found his crutches and started to stand. "I'm going back upstairs."

"What were you going to say, Ryan?" Sandy stood up to stop him. "You're not going anywhere until you answer the question."

"You haven't apologized to me yet." Ryan stated. "All my accusations were founded, but you just acted like nothing was wrong."

Sandy and Kirsten were speechless as Ryan started back upstairs. Seth went to follow him as Sandy slumped back down on the couch beside Kirsten.

"He deserves an apology." Sandy mumbled. "Things have just been a little hectic with his accident."

"That's understandable." Nicole assured him. "But in Ryan's eyes, I think he sees it as a betrayal."

* * *

><p>Seth slowly followed Ryan into his room as he slowly lay back on the bed. Ryan looked over at him, waiting for him to say something.<p>

"Go ahead and say it, Seth." Ryan told him.

"Say what?"

"Whatever it is that you want to say."

"I'm just surprised that you talked as much as you did down there." He sat in the desk chair and turned on the TV.

"I just want all this to end." Ryan sighed. "I'm sick of all the tension."

"Well I'm sure that the 'rents will be up here after Nicole leaves to do just that."

A little while later, there was a knock at the door and Sandy and Kirsten came in and looked at them. Seth turned off the TV as he turned to look at them.

"Seth, if you wouldn't mind-" Kirsten started.

"I'll be in my room." He started up.

"Why don't you go down and play video games. We don't want you trying to eavesdrop."

"Got it." He walked out of the room, closing the door firmly behind him.

"Nicole just left," Sandy told Ryan. "So we figured that we might follow-up on some of the things that were said downstairs."

"Ok," Ryan said softly.

"Would you like to start for a change?" Kirsten asked as they both sat at the end of the bed facing him. "However long you want to take. We have all night."

"It's just-everyone else in my life has abandoned me when things got tough." Ryan started. "I wasn't sure if this would last. Good things never happened to me all that much."

"We already thought of you as our son when we asked to be your guardians." Kirsten told him. "We will never give up on you."

"How was I supposed to know that? With this whole Oliver thing-"

"I'm sorry, Ryan." Sandy interrupted him. "We were wrong about everything. We should've talked about all of this days ago, but things got so crazy when your accident happened."

"I guess I can understand that."

"Now about all these things that you didn't want," Kirsten started. "If you were uncomfortable with all of this, why didn't you speak up?"

"I didn't think I had a right to."

"You live under our roof, you have a right."

"I figured if I started to protest, that you would-"

"That we would what? Start abusing you just like Dawn's boyfriends did?"

"Well, yeah. That's how I grew up."

"We will never lay a hand on you." Sandy told him. "You know that, don't you?"

"I guess I do now."

"Good."

"Now is it really so bad at Harbor?" Kirsten looked at him. "With this whole thing with the faculty taken care of, it should be a lot better for you there."

"I guess."

"We'd love to see you get involved in sports again, if that's what you want."

"I might."

"As for college, you will be going." Sandy told him. "That is mandatory."

"But what's the point? I don't know what I want to do. I don't want to waste four years of tuition just to not know what I want to do after I graduate."

"That's the whole point of college. To figure out what you want to do."

"Besides, whatever happened to wanting to become an architect?" Kirsten looked at him. "Do you still want to do that? I can see if I can get you a job or an internship at the Newport Group this summer."

"With your dad? I don't think so."

"I don't blame you." Sandy smiled.

"I can make sure that you're nowhere around him when you're there." Kirsten assured him. "So what do you say?"

"I'll think about it."

"Now in the letter you said that you felt uncomfortable taking all the things that I got you, but you eventually accepted them. What changed?"

"I let my guard down." Ryan said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I let my guard down and accepted it all, and it was all thrown back in my face. You took it all away when you were punishing me for the school fight with Oliver." Ryan told them. "I'm afraid that if I let my guard down again, it will all go away again and I'll be back where I started."

"It's ok." Kirsten moved to sit beside him. "Let your guard down. It will all still be here for you tomorrow."

"How do I know that you're not going to do the same thing again?"

"I guess you don't." Sandy moved to his other side. "But we mean what we say."

"I don't know if I can trust it." Ryan said softly.

"You can trust us." Kirsten embraced him and he buried his face in her shoulder.

"We want things to be better around here." Sandy told him. "Better than they were before even."

"I want that too."

"It's ok," Kirsten felt Ryan start to shake as the tears started streaming down his face. "Everything will be so much better."

"We want things to change." Sandy told him. "We want you to try to talk to us. We will have dinner conversations that will require more than a one syllable answer. And we want you to come to us if you have any kind of problem. That's what families do. They help each other out. I know that you don't have much experience with that, but you can start doing so now."

"Right now?" Ryan mumbled.

"Well not right this instant." Sandy smiled.

"We can start tomorrow." Kirsten told him. "We'll all go to mall tomorrow and start shopping for some things for this room because we would like you to move in here permanently."

"I'd like that too." Ryan said softly. "It feels like I'm actually part of the family if I'm in the house."

"Good, because you are a permanent part of this family."

* * *

><p>Sandy and Kirsten made Seth leave Ryan alone for the rest of the night so that he could process everything that had happened. The next day was Saturday, which meant that Seth would be home all day. If Ryan had any hopes of sleeping in that day, they were dashed when his door burst open at eight o'clock and Seth bounded in.<p>

"Dude, wake up. It's a big day." He shook the bed.

"What's going on?" Ryan grumbled.

"You're officially moving into the house, and mom wants us all to go shopping for some things."

"Not this early." Ryan turned over and covered his head with the blankets.

"Come on, man." He pulled the covers off him. "This is an all-day event."

"Fine." Ryan climbed out of bed. "I'm just going to take a shower."

"See you downstairs." Seth walked out and Ryan went into the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later, Ryan hobbled downstairs and into the kitchen to find Seth eating breakfast by himself.

"Sandy and Kirsten aren't even up yet." Ryan grumbled.

"Dad's out surfing." Seth told him. "Mom's getting dressed."

"I need coffee." Ryan mumbled as he sat at the table.

"Hey. Let's invite Summer and Anna to come today." Seth got up.

"It's supposed to be a family trip." Ryan told him.

"Hey, boys." Sandy came in followed by Kirsten. "Are we ready to leave yet?"

"I would be if Seth would get me something to eat and make me some coffee." Ryan told them.

"Hey!" Seth glared at him.

"Seth, you're supposed to help him until he's off restriction from the doctor." Sandy told him.

"I'm not a mind reader."

"Yes. I'm sure my subtle hints of 'I need coffee. Can you make me some?' were hard to understand." Ryan mumbled.

"Here you go," Sandy brought over a bagel to him as Kirsten started a pot of coffee.

"Can we invite Summer and Anna to meet us there?" Seth spoke up as Kirsten poured a cup of coffee for Ryan.

"You want to invite your current girlfriend and your ex-girlfriend?" Kirsten looked at him.

"I'm inviting Summer. Ryan is inviting Anna." Ryan ducked his head as they all looked at him.

"Today is for the four of us." Sandy noticed how uncomfortable Ryan suddenly got. "You can invite them over when we get home."

They all finished eating breakfast and loaded into the Range Rover. Ryan spent the next few hours going from store to store with the Cohen's as they told him to pick out anything he wanted. He only picked out a few things, but they got him so much more. They finally returned to the house with the back packed with new CDs, DVDs, wall posters, and anything else that Kirsten had managed to sneak in for him.

"I'm staying in here." Ryan commented as he saw another car in the driveway.

"I'll tell him to leave." Kirsten told him as they all got out and started taking all their bags inside.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Kirsten asked him as she helped Ryan inside.

"Can't a dad stop by to see his daughter?" Caleb asked.

"Normal dads can." Ryan mumbled as he grabbed a bottle of mountain dew from the refrigerator and went into the den. "You're not normal, though."

"Excuse me?"

"Ryan, go get settled in the den." Kirsten told him. "We'll all watch a movie together in a little bit."

"Got it." He got situated on the couch as Seth and Sandy took all the shopping bags up to his room.

"Kiki, when will you be coming back to work?" Caleb demanded of her.

"When Ryan is off restrictions." She told him. "He still needs help getting around."

"Your help is needed at the office."

"You have other people that can do it just as well."

"Kiki-"

"You want me to come back sooner, go in there and try to make Ryan feel welcome."

"Don't let him in here." Ryan called. "I don't want to be anywhere near him."

"Ryan!"

"You told me to express myself more."

"He's right. We did." Sandy came back downstairs. "I'll start the popcorn."

"Just so you know, I offered Ryan a job at the Newport Group this summer." Kirsten looked at her father. "He wasn't too keen on working with you, but I told him that he wouldn't have any contact with you."

"You offered him a job without telling me?"

"He wouldn't be working with you, he'll be around my department."

"Hey, man." Seth came in with a big bag. "I have something for you."

"What is it?"

"Something to keep you occupied these next few weeks."

"I think your mom covered that." Ryan pulled out a boxed book set. "Seriously, what is this for?"

"Well I saw your poster board project from when mom and dad had us make them. I saw that you had a Harry Potter thing on there, so I got you some things."

"Seth, you didn't have to do this."

"Sure, I did." Seth watched as Ryan pulled out the book set, and all the current video games that were out.

"Well, thank you."

"Goodbye, dad." They heard Kirsten's voice as the front door slammed shut.

"Man, she is pissed at your grandpa." Ryan looked at him.

"So which one are we watching first?" Seth asked him.

"Start with the first one, I guess." Ryan told him as he set up the DVD player.

"So how come you like Harry Potter so much?" Seth looked at him.

"I'm not telling you." Ryan stated.

"Why not?"

"You'll think it's corny, and I'll never hear the end of it."

"How often do you make fun of what I like or listen to? Brothers are supposed to make fun of each other."

"Fine. I guess I can kind of relate to him."

"You relate to a boy wizard?" Seth looked at him strangely.

"No." Ryan sighed. "He's a kid living a shitty life, and suddenly one day someone tells him that there's better out there."

"Ok. So in that sense, you would be Harry and my dad would be Hagrid?"

"Well if you want to be weird about it."

Sandy and Kirsten listened to Ryan and Seth banter back and forth as they debated which of their friends would be which of the Harry Potter characters.

"He had a fun day, don't you think?" Kirsten looked at him.

"It was a good day for all of us," Sandy agreed. "But this is far from fixed. He's only sharing with us what he wants to."

"That's more than he was before. Besides, he seems happier. As if a weight has been lifted off his shoulders."

"We still have a lot of work to do with him."

"I know." She started pouring the popcorn into bowls. "So do you think anything will happen between Ryan and Anna?"

"They've always been close friends because they were both outsiders when they first came to town. I guess it's only logical that deeper feelings would emerge for them both."

"I guess we'll see." They walked into the den and distributed the popcorn.

"So Luke would be Draco." Seth said.

"Old Luke would be Draco." Ryan added.

"Who would I be?" Kirsten asked them.

"I'm not sure." Ryan shrugged.

"You'd have to be Mrs. Weasley." Seth looked back at her.

"Why is that?" Kirsten asked.

"She's Harry's surrogate mother; overbearing at times, forces him to eat too much food because she thinks he's too thin, but Harry secretly enjoys every minute of it."

"That makes sense if you think that you're Ron." Ryan told him.

Kirsten shared a secret smile with Ryan as they all settled in to watch the movie. Things were starting to get better. They weren't fixed, not by a long shot. But they had plenty of time to work on their issues since Ryan seemed to be willing to accept them as his family again. And that was a start at least.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? Just the epilogue is left. I hope to get it up by the weekend. PLZ R&R!


	16. Epilogue

**AN: **Well, here it is. The final chapter. I'm a little sad that this story is done, but I'm glad that I have time to work on my other stories now. I just want to say thank you to all my loyal followers and reviewers. Hope you all like how I wrapped it all up. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Epilogue**

Today was the day that Kirsten Cohen had hoped would never come; Seth was leaving for college. Ryan would be leaving in a few days. She had been dreading this time since they started their senior year. She had spent the entire month planning all sorts of activities to do with them before they left the house for long periods of time.

Kirsten saw Seth standing on the doorstep as he said his goodbyes to his dad and Ryan. Summer was waiting at the end of the driveway in the car that would take them both to Rhode Island. Seth would be attending RISD, and Summer would be going to Providence College. Ryan gave Seth an awkward hug as Sandy finished loading up Seth's new car.

After almost four years of pleading for one, they got him and Ryan separate cars for their graduation presents. Seth received a shiny red escalade, and Ryan got a dark blue Mountaineer. Sandy had to do a lot of talking to convince Kirsten that they would need separate cars since they would be attending colleges thousands of miles away from each other.

"All right," Sandy shut the back door. "I think that's everything. "If you've forgotten anything, we'll send it out to you."

"Thanks," Seth said softly as Summer got into the front passenger seat to give them one final private moment together.

"I've said goodbye enough times." Ryan told him. "I'm making my escape now."

"See you buddy." Seth told him as he disappeared around the side of the house.

"Escape?" Sandy questioned.

"With me gone, Ryan's an only child for the next few days." Seth explained. "We saw her making more lists last night."

"She'll find him sooner or later." Sandy told him. "So don't forget to fill up the tank before you get on the highway, and drive safely."

"Got it." Seth looked up as he saw his mom coming out of the house. "I'll miss you guys, but there's parents weekend to look forward to. And those video chats."

"Not the same, but thank you for trying." Kirsten hugged him tightly.

"Mom, I need to get going if I'm going to make good time."

"All right." She let him go and he got behind the wheel as Summer rolled her window down to wave to them.

"You two take turns driving." Kirsten told them. "And be safe."

"No worries." Summer told them. "We'll call you when we get to the hotel tonight."

Sandy and Kirsten stood in the driveway and watched as the car slowly pulled away. Kirsten searched for Ryan, but didn't see him anywhere.

"I'm pretty sure he's hiding in the pool house." Sandy told her. "I think he's had enough of your lists."

"Well he's going to suffer through it." Kirsten went around the side of the house and opened the pool house door and saw him lounging in one of the chairs as he read a magazine.

Ever since Ryan became a permanent resident of the house, they only used the pool house for whenever Seth and Ryan had friends over. Or they would hide out in it when they were trying to avoid something going on in the house.

"Found you." She told him.

"Sandy has a big mouth." He smiled up at her. "I'm already tired. What do you say that we skip whatever festivities you had planned?"

"You're out of luck." She managed to get him out of the chair. "Besides, we're only grilling burgers tonight. Eating on the patio, and just talking."

"Fine." He followed her out and saw that Sandy was already firing up the grill.

"Hey kid," Sandy waved him over. "I need your help over here."

"I should help you why? You squealed."

"Seth had his time. Now it's your turn."

Kirsten went inside to get the plates and silverware as she watched the two of them banter back and forth. They had come a long way since his accident. It was a long and slow process for Ryan to accept everything and act like a real member of their family, but the important thing is that he did.

He willingly offered up details about his life to them at the dinner table; sometimes without them even asking. The most remarkable thing in their opinion was when he came into their room late one night to get Kirsten because he felt sick and he thought he needed some medicine. It turned out to be just a common cold, but it was a huge stepping stone for him.

When Ryan was able to return to Harbor full-time the next school year after his accident, he made a promise that he would get more involved in school. Not only did he rejoin the soccer team, he also joined the baseball team that spring. He also joined the Drama Club; but only to help out with the set design and construction for the school plays. Kirsten convinced him that it would be good practice for when he had to do designs for his architecture classes.

Guided by the incessant urging from the school guidance counselor as well as Sandy and Kirsten, Ryan signed up for several AP science and math classes his last two years at Harbor. He also accepted an internship at the Newport Group his senior year, but only under the circumstances that he would not have to deal with Caleb at all.

Things between him and Caleb were still rocky at best, but he did his best to avoid him at all costs. Whenever he stopped by the house he would disappear into the pool house, or he would hide out at Anna's house if he was there for long periods of time.

Thanks to Seth and Summer's gentle nudging, Ryan and Anna grew closer. Ryan thought it might be a little awkward with them hanging out with Seth and Summer all the time, but they were all comfortable doing so.

As for Marissa, she never bothered Ryan. At the beginning of each semester, Kirsten called the school administration office to make sure that she didn't show up in any of his classes. Ryan didn't see the necessity, but inwardly was grateful that he didn't have to deal with her. He heard that she had gotten into Columbia, so she would be on the other side of the country from him.

When Ryan started filling out his college applications, Sandy noticed that he was only applying to schools on the west coast. They told him that he should apply to schools in other states, but Ryan was adamant that he was just going to apply to ones just in the state of California. It started a fight between them that lasted for more than two weeks. Kirsten finally got Ryan to admit that he wanted to stay close to the only family that he had left.

Ryan surprised the three of them on his eighteenth birthday when he revealed something that he had been working on for months. He had a notarized piece of paper stating that the Cohen's weren't only his legal guardians, but that they were adopting him once they signed their names. He had been secretly meeting with Sandy's friends from the PD's office to help him with it as long as they didn't reveal it to the Cohen's before he had a chance to tell them. Since he was a legal adult, he didn't need signatures from either of his biological parents. It was a double celebration for them that night when Ryan legally became Ryan Atwood-Cohen.

Ryan had no relationship with any of the Atwood's anymore. The summer after Ryan's accident, they got word that Dawn had died from a drug overdose. Ryan shut down for a few weeks until they sent him to another therapist who helped him come to terms with her death. Two weeks before Trey was supposed to be released from prison, he was stabbed by another inmate. He spent weeks in the prison infirmary and seemed to get better, but an infection appeared and he passed away.

Then during the summer vacation before his senior year, Frank Atwood was released from prison. He showed up on the Cohen's doorstep one night wanting to see Ryan. He refused to see him and had them send him away. Frank continued to show up wherever Ryan was, so Sandy issued a restraining order against him. The restraining order became null and void after Frank violated his probation when he was found with drugs in his possession and was sent back to jail.

After everything that he had been through, Sandy had worried that Ryan would shut down on them. He did the complete opposite, though. He adjusted slowly, but threw himself into school. He became competitive not only with his academics, but also on the soccer field. So much so that he became team captain and got the attention of many of the scouts.

That is the reason why he was going to UC Berkeley not just on an athletic scholarship, but an academic one as well. Sandy and Kirsten had already bought up their season seats and planned on going to all the home games to watch him in action.

"Is it almost ready?" Kirsten came back out of the house with their dinnerware.

"Just finished." Sandy brought the plate of burgers over and they all sat down.

"So we get you to ourselves these next few days without Seth constantly interrupting us." Kirsten looked at Ryan.

"No big deal." Ryan shrugged.

"Well it's a big deal to us." Sandy told him, knowing that deep down Ryan was more upset than Kirsten was. "The house will be too quiet when you leave."

The three of them finished their supper and went inside to watch some movies together. Ryan struggled to keep his eyes open as it got later since Kirsten wanted to spend so much time with him. Sandy finally cut off all the family time and told Ryan to go get some sleep to rest up for all the plans that Kirsten had planned for the next day.

* * *

><p>Ryan awoke early one morning and slowly made his way downstairs. He stopped in his tracks and stared at the feast that sat before him as Sandy and Kirsten rushed around the kitchen.<p>

"I think this is the most food I've seen in this kitchen at once." He told them as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Come on in and grab a plate, kid." Sandy told him and he went to sit at the counter after grabbing a cup of coffee.

"You didn't have to make so much." Ryan told them.

"Of course we did." Kirsten smiled at him. "Besides, we weren't sure what you would want on your last morning at home."

"When will Anna be here?" Sandy asked him as he piled scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon and toast onto his plate.

"Between nine and ten." He told them. "Her dad's dropping her off so we can drive there together."

"You have everything packed and ready to go?" Kirsten asked him.

"It's all ready." He assured them.

The day before, Kirsten took Ryan on a last-minute trip to the mall for all the extra things that she thought he needed for his dorm room. They returned to the house with the rover loaded down with a mini-fridge, coffee maker, microwave, toaster oven, sandwich maker, griddle, dishes, glasses, utensils, a new laptop, desk lamp, alarm clock, laundry basket, and bed sheets and towels.

Ryan was one of the lucky ones who would get a dorm room to himself. He was surrounded by other students who would share a common room, but he had his own place. Anna was nearby in the co-ed housing with her own private dorm as well. So Kirsten wanted to make sure that he had everything that he needed.

Ryan enjoyed spending the day with Kirsten, though he would never admit it out loud. He loved trying to stop her from buying something when they both knew that he wouldn't win the fight.

Kirsten kept trying to get Ryan to eat more breakfast long after he told her that he was full. Sandy finally stepped in and helped Ryan bring all of his things down from his room and they started loading up his car. They heard a car honk and Ryan smiled as Anna got out of her dad's car and started bringing her things over to load up.

"I'll lower the back seats so that you guys have more room." Sandy adjusted the seats as Anna brought some boxes over.

"Wow." She spotted all the appliances.

"Kirsten took me to the mall yesterday and got all this." He told her.

"It's all necessary." Kirsten came out with a box for him. "This is full of food and bathroom essentials for you. Expect care packages like this one every two weeks."

"I have a meal card." Ryan told her.

"The cafeteria won't be open twenty four hours." She told him. "Besides, you'll be able to offer your new friends food when they come over for study sessions."

"Right. Study sessions." Ryan smirked.

"You better stick to the study sessions." Kirsten told him. "As much as I love the two of you as a couple, I wouldn't love the idea of you two becoming parents while you're still in school."

"I second that." Cameron Stern came over with the last of Anna's things.

"Nothing like that will be happening in either dorm room." Anna told them. "Or anywhere else on campus."

"It's all in there." Sandy closed the back hatch of the car. "So I guess this is it."

"Yeah." Ryan said softly as Anna went to say goodbye to her dad and climbed into Ryan's car to give the Cohen's some privacy.

"Fill up the tank before you get on the highway." Sandy gave him the same speech that he gave Seth. "Take turns driving, and be safe."

"We will." Ryan assured them.

"I don't want to hear that you've gotten a job out there." Kirsten told him. "You need to focus on your studies."

"My friends there have no problem spying on you for me." Sandy added. "We'll send your allowance every two weeks along with the provisions that Kirsten will be sending."

"I understand." Ryan smiled at them. "We better get on the road. We have orientation later tonight."

"Call when you get there."

"I promise. I love you both." Ryan hugged them tightly before pulling away and starting into his car. "Hey. What are you doing?"

"I'm driving first." They heard Anna. "Your dad said to take turns driving."

"Given that it's my car, I think I should drive first."

"I overruled you."

"Give it up, kid." Sandy told him. "You'll never win."

Ryan smiled as he climbed into the passenger seat and Anna started the car. He waved to them as they pulled out of the driveway and turned onto the street. Sandy held Kirsten as they watched the car disappear down the road.

"Well, now we're really alone." He told her as they walked back into the house.

They both silently started to clean up the kitchen from breakfast. They had just finished when their cell phones went off. They both took them out and saw that someone was sending them text message.

'Miss you already. Love you.-Ryan'

They looked at each other and smiled at each other as they started into the living room. Kirsten's eye caught a framed photo of the four of them Ryan's first weekend with them. They had definitely come a long way since the fashion show, and they were as close as they could be right now. Things were good.

**AN: **So what'd you all think of this final chapter? I hope you all enjoyed this. PLZ R&R!


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